Once Upon a Ring
by Aaron Ledgers
Summary: In our world, everything is supposed to be normal, but once in a while, having a gift that stands out is all right. Unless it's something strange, like predicting the future... which Kate can do. And lately, she's been having nightmares about a burning eye and an ominous event. Sadly, just like every OTHER Cinderella story in existence, her dreams have a bad habit of coming true!
1. Prologue: Just One Step

**Disclaimer and Author's note: **I don't own J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, but I'd like to say just one thing about the main protagonist, Katie Sanders, before you continue reading this. To start off, she is NOT an OC: she truly exists and she honestly went through a lot of the things you're about to set eyes on. So, please be gentle, because her history and some of the events I'm going to be writing about are based on her thoughts, feelings, and sadly enough, actions. Anyway, this is going to be a very, very long story, so kick back and relax. I also created a video preview for this story. Those of you who wish to watch it, just type in the link without the underscores.

It might give you a hint on what to expect from this, or maybe not. You never know.

**h_t_t_p_s_:_/_/_y_o_u_t_u_b_e_._c_o_m****/watch?v=BnEPvFtgaIM**

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><p><strong>THE FELLOWSHIP: ONCE UPON A RING<strong>

**Dedicated to Katherine and Nathaniel Sanders**

**PART ONE: MODERN EARTH**

"Friendship is precious, not only in the shade, but in the sunshine of life.  
>And thanks to a benevolent arrangement of things, the greater part of life is sunshine."<br>**—Thomas Jefferson—**

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><p>A gentle autumn breeze was sliding down the deserted streets of New York City.<p>

The sun was beginning to rise, and the sky had been illuminated with the colors of a beautiful new dawn.

However, despite the early hour, no cars were driving along the concrete roads and almost nobody was walking along the sidewalks. In fact, only one visible person was standing under the morning glow that glimmered on the horizon. The girl in question was only four feet and six inches tall, her hair was whiter than snow, and her skin was extremely pale.

At the moment, her eyes were closed tightly: nothing aside from the silver lashes framing those gems could be seen as she stood there on top of the railing. Her arms were spread like an eagle, and her thigh-length hair was drifting in the wind: aside from her tresses and skirt, she was still as a statue. She remained that way for an unmeasurable amount of time... barely even seeming to be breathing.

But then... the sun finally slid over the horizon, and she slowly opened her eyes.

Two large, empty, iridescent irises refracted the light like twin mirrors, twinkling with subtle hues of amethyst, crystal blue, and baby pink. In front of her was a gorgeous view... the buildings below her gleamed and sparkled, and not far beyond was the ocean, which glittered like diamonds. However, instead of looking at this sunrise with a smile, her pale face was emotionless.

In that moment, silence reigned free, punctuated only by a heartbeat.

Her own heartbeat.

Above her was the sky, with the glorious colors of a magnificent dawn.

In front of her was a view that even a queen could love.

But below her lay nearly fifty stories worth of empty air.

One more step... just one more step and this would be the last sunrise she'd ever lay eyes on. She slowly tilted her head back and stared at the beautiful sky with a frightening amount of emptiness in her eyes, feeling no admiration for the magnificence she was beholding.

The vast plane above her brought nothing but loneliness.

She was hollow.

It only made her realize how small her existence really was.

Even a morning like this could no longer bring her joy, and that's why the moment had come: she could escape... she could be free of everything with just one more step.

Just one step... it wasn't so hard, right?

She could be free of the pain... the fear... the loneliness... everything she hated so badly.

Everything she wanted but could never truly have.

The girl closed her eyes again and took a deep breath, planning on lifting her right foot... but her leg wouldn't budge: it was shaking so violently that she couldn't even budge it from the railing. A gentle wind blew through her silvery hair when she finally lowered her arms and looked down at the distant road: the breeze helped to cool her stinging cheeks and eyes, but it was doing nothing to quell the burning sensation in her heart.

She couldn't even kill herself. She couldn't escape.

There was no way out.

"Just one step," she finally whispered, shivering all over as she stared at the spinning ground below with blank eyes. "That's all I need. One step... just one."

However, before she could continue thinking about it, the sound of a door opening behind her filled the air and she froze like a statue once again.

"Wha?! What the hell?" someone snorted, sounding more than a little startled. "No way... your hair is... it's white! It's totally white!"

The girl blinked and slowly turned her head to look at the idiot who'd spoken: she blinked again in confusion when she beheld a clean-cut man who looked to be in his late twenties. He was staring at her with raised eyebrows, and he was rubbing the stubble on his chin: his short black hair and steel grey eyes made him seem very plain.

"Obviously," she stated in a startlingly emotionless voice, giving him a vacant stare; she seemed to be looking through him rather than at him. "Albinism does that to people."

The man twitched after he glanced down, because it was only then that he realized where, exactly, she was standing: his face immediately drained of color.

"Kid, what the hell are you doing?" he calmly demanded, slowly taking a step forward and lifting his hands. "Seriously, come down from there! It's dangerous!"

"Yes, it is," Kate stated almost wistfully, giving the guy an empty smile and turning away to face the sunrise. "So much that it would definitely be fatal. Funny, isn't it?"

"What are you saying?! H-hey, come on! Come down from there, right now!" the man roughly demanded; regardless, he looked severely shaken up. "I don't know what's going on with you, but suicide definitely isn't the answer. If you want to talk, come down and I'll take you out to eat or something, okay? Just, come down!"

Katherine's eyes were hidden by her hair by that point.

Then, she dropped her arms, letting them hang limply.

"Shut up," she finally muttered, slowly twisting her legs and sliding off of the skyscraper's thin railing; the business man stared at her with startled grey eyes and watched as she picked up her school bag, because not long after she started walking for the door he'd just come through. "You don't need to worry so much: I've been standing in that same spot for three hours and I couldn't move my legs enough to jump. I couldn't do it even if I wanted to, so stay out of it."

Without bothering to wait for a response, the girl unhappily swept past him, not even realizing that his enormous eyes had locked onto her gleaming hair.

"Wait," he commanded sharply, making the girl halt for a moment. "What's your name, kid? And how old are you?"

"You're not entitled to know anything about me," the white child stated emptily, slowly turning her head and smiling at him over her shoulder; his eyes widened when he finally saw the nasty bruise on her cheek. "Nor do I owe you an explanation about my age. Just ignore me like everyone else does and forget you ever saw me here."

"Not until you tell me your name," he calmly retorted, slowly walking over to her and gently setting a hand on her shoulder. "Please, just answer the question, Miss... it might make things easier if you talk about what's going on with you."

Her amethyst eyes narrowed a little and she averted her gaze to the floor.

But then, she had a vision of the man in front of her.

_Her eyes widened when she saw him sitting in a blue minivan at a stoplight._

_He was looking at something on his phone, so when the light turned and he pulled out into the busy street, he didn't see the bus going faster than the city speed limit allowed._

Kate closed her eyes and tried to ignore the obscure images of the the two vehicles colliding, but just before the visions faded, her mind's eye caught sight of two street signs.

_The crossing of Fifth Avenue and Broadway, _she silently droned, letting out a mental sigh. _Not surprising considering how busy those streets are._

"I'll tell you something even better than my name," she stated in a low voice, not meeting the man's gaze; he could see a grim smile forming on her lips. "Take my advice: stay the hell away from the crossing of Broadway and Fifth Avenue. If you don't, you'll regret it. If you _can't_ avoid that area, don't touch your phone while you're driving your minivan. I have to get to school, now... bye."

With that, she lifted her hand and tossed her cloud-white hair before continuing on towards the elevator.

After a moment of calming her racing heart, she pressed the button and clasped her school bag with both hands. When she stepped in and turned around, however, she noticed that the man was staring at her with a weird expression and winced internally.

Unfortunately, just as the elevators started closing, the man abruptly lunged forward.

The girl jumped when he stuck his arm through the gap.

"What's your name?" he demanded, giving her a very odd expression indeed. "Before you go, that's all I want to know: first and last."

"Could you let me leave, please?" the girl droned, giving him a cold expression. "I'm gonna be late."

"Not until you tell me your first and last name," he stated seriously, giving her a firm expression. "Tell me."

"You're not gonna let this go, are you?" the girl angrily demanded, giving him an empty expression. "You're really gonna hound me?"

"Until you tell me your name," the man slyly retorted, narrowing his eyes, "or better yet, how you know what kind of vehicle I drive."

The white-haired girl glared at him for a long moment, amethyst eyes sharpening in an intimidating manner.

"Katie Sanders," she stated in a monotone, averting her eyes. "My name is Katherine Ashley Sanders. Now, please let me go before I call the police."

For a long moment... the man did nothing; but then, without a word, he withdrew his arm and the elevator doors started sliding shut again.

However, when a sudden jolt of uneasiness seared through her gut, she glanced up just before they fully closed: there was an extremely weird smile on the man's face. He looked half intrigued, half disbelieving, but there was also a gleam of curiosity in his steel grey eyes.

Then he was gone and she was alone with her uneasiness.

The ride down to the ground floor was mostly silent... punctuated only by the tacky music that came along with riding in a New York elevator. Not long after that, though, she left the fancy hotel and began the three-mile walk to the one place she hated more than her current living residence.

School.

By the time she arrived, Katie Sanders had wiped all traces of emotion off her face.

Bracing herself behind a wall of isolation, she hefted her backpack and headed through the rusted gates of her 'government sponsored' high school. It was reputed as a private academy, but all of the locals knew it was actually a place for juvenile delinquents and orphans: the success rate for Ivy Ridge was so low that even the worst of the homeless would cringe.

Katie had arrived a little earlier than usual, so she figured she'd have enough time to rest in the library before her first class started. Mostly because she couldn't deal with the bullying so early on... at least, not on this particular day.

When she walked into the library, however, her irritation dissolved.

This spacious room was almost always empty since the majority of the students in her school liked to slack off and do nothing with their lives. That's why it had become her sanctuary... and one of the only two people who Katie actually cared about was sitting in it all the time, feeling just as lonely as she was. The librarian never had any visitors, so she was always grinning whenever Katherine showed up. Being smiled at had been nothing more than a fantasy until she'd started attending Ivy Ridge, so for all it's faults, this little bit of joy kind of made up for everything.

"Hello, Miss McKinley," Katie stated softly, catching the attention of the old woman who was dozing off in front of the desk. "Sorry for startling you... I'm here a little earlier today."

"Katherine?" the woman gently asked, grandmotherly brown eyes blooming with warmth. "Well, now, I didn't expect to see you so early. School hasn't even started yet... but then again, I guess that could work to my favor, hmmm? Would you like a cup of hot cocoa?"

"R-really?" Kate peeped, feeling as though the melancholy ache in her heart were already washing away. "Yes, please... thank you, Miss McKinley."

"Oh, goody! Now, now, don't you worry about it," the woman chuckled, stamping a returned book and watching as the slender albino smoothed her black school skirt; then she got up and walked over to the coffee pot. "I can see you've got another bruise on your cheek... forgive me for prying, but have you been eating properly, Katie? That awful wretch had better be feeding you and Nathan... oh, and that reminds me! How is your brother doing? I haven't seen him around lately."

"I'm... eating..." Katie reluctantly admitted, widely skirting the topic; it wasn't exactly a lie, since she was always eating in the cafeteria, but home was another story entirely. "And... Nathan is like he usually is: distant."

"Oh... well, don't worry, darling: he'll come around soon, I'm sure," the librarian sighed, clucking her tongue as she waited for the water to boil. "You know, boys his age are difficult to understand. I used to have the same problems with my own son when he was your age: one day, he clamped up like a turtle and stopped talking to me. I think Nate probably just has a crush on someone."

"It's a thought, but I doubt it..." Katie mumbled, pulling on a strand of her hair before she sat down with the woman behind the desk. "I already told you about why he acts the way he does. I doubt he'll ever like anybody with the trust issues he has... and since everyone thinks I'm a witch, a lot of people have been keeping their distance from him, too."

Shockingly enough, this was the sad truth: everyone at school, even some of the teachers, believed that Katie was a real life witch due to some exceedingly bizarre occurrences when she'd somehow managed to predict the future. Her strange looks had never really helped matters, but still... that's what everyone currently believed. Her reputation had stemmed from an event that had taken place little over a month ago: her final class had just let out, she'd already gotten her things, and she'd been on her way out the door.

But then, she'd brushed arms with her principle, who'd been on his way inside.

Inexplicably, she'd had a vision of him being killed by a potted plant and had whirled around, roughly grabbing his arm.

Considering the type of school she attended, she shouldn't have been surprised that he'd assumed she'd been trying to attack him.

After he'd slammed Kate down on her back and started restraining her, the pot had fallen from the window above and shattered on the concrete.

The man had instantly stopped what he was doing to take a look at it... and after looking above, his face had gone slack.

For the next two weeks, he'd repeatedly called her into his office trying to get the truth out of her. Unknown to Kate, however, or even the principle himself... the gossip about his actions had spread throughout the whole school, and every time he'd called her in, there had been people listening to his one-sided conversation outside the office. Things had been relatively okay until she'd finally caved under his coaxing and admitted that she sometimes had visions and strange feelings about bad things happening to the people around her.

She'd told him that she didn't know how or why it happened, but it was usually better to avoid ignoring the feelings.

She'd then proceeded to explain that the event with the potted plant was a perfect example and curtly closed her mouth again, hoping he was finished. Because that was the truth: Katie sometimes had dreams that somehow came true later on. Granted, it didn't always happen, and most of the time she didn't even remember her dreams unless the events they'd represented started taking place in reality. More often than the dreams, though, she would sometimes just... _see_ things... or randomly get strange feelings about certain events before they took place.

During that conversation, she had seen it in the man's eyes that he hadn't believed her, but it _had_ taken two and a half weeks just to get a semi-normal response out of her, so he'd accepted it without further question. Unfortunately, the moment she'd let that secret slip, her response to the principle had spread throughout the school. And since she had never really been liked by the people around her, it hadn't taken long for the teasing to start. Eventually, it had devolved further: going from teasing, to bullying, to being treated like an outcast by her classmates.

Truthfully, it pissed her off: she'd been reluctant to confess her secret in the first place because of how much she hated it.

Having dreams that could come true at any time was terrifying to think about, because for her, a nightmare might not be a nightmare later on.

But nobody understood her point of view enough to bother thinking about things like that.

In their eyes, she was just a new toy to play with: an item of the school who needed to be taken down a few pegs.

The only part of this situation that she was grateful for was the fact that her brother had no issues with dreams coming true. He didn't even have premonitions like she did, so at the very least... he had mostly been safe from the harassment everyone at school had been giving her.

However, even though the two of them were twins, they weren't exactly the closest siblings in the world. Quite the contrary, despite her emotionless facade, Katie actually loved her brother so much that sometimes it was almost too painful to keep going.

And today, she had almost stopped altogether because of him.

After all, he was the main reason why she'd been up on that railing.

"'_God, you should just disappear already_,'" Katherine murmured, staring at the floor with hollow eyes. "_'I really hope something bad happens to you today.'_"

"Eh? What was that?" the librarian asked, looking up at her with those grandmotherly brown eyes. "Did you say something, honey?"

"No," Kate called, shaking her head. "Nothing..."

Nothing.

That word embodied everything she was to her brother.

To anybody, really: her home life was just as fucked up as her school life, so she knew as much from personal experience.

Truthfully, Nathan had never stepped in when their foster mother had started hitting her, nor had he done so when she'd been abused by their previous foster families. At school, after her secret had been exposed, he'd sided with the students who'd started tormenting her, and laughed with the kids who'd made her cry at night. He didn't care about her even a little bit, but the worst part was the fact that Katie couldn't even blame him for it. After all, she was responsible for a horrifying accident that had occurred _because_ she'd had one of her premonitions.

Her vision of it beforehand is what had caused everything leading up to the end result, and it was all because she'd tried to prevent it from happening.

After a moment of staring at the ground, Katie let go of her hair and pushed her bangs out of her eyes.

"Are you all right?" Mrs. McKinley sighed, looking at her. "You seem a little more down than usual."

Kate was pensive. She didn't really want to respond.

"It's just... hard..." she admitted, shaking her head before bending over and straightening her knee-high stockings. "I was already singled out now and then because I look so _different_ with my albinism, but now I'm treated like a virus that nobody wants to catch. I didn't really think it would bother me all that much when it first started, but things have changed. Some of the creeps from my class, like Alan and his two friends, Salem and Mitchel... they get physical with the bullying. And since the regular teasing never ends, I'm actually starting to hate coming to school."

The woman sighed.

"People fear what they don't understand, and what they don't understand is usually different from them," the librarian sighed, setting a mug of hot chocolate in front of her. "That's why they lash out at you, Sweetie: don't let it get to you. And if Alan or either of those boys he hangs out with hurts you, tell me, okay? I won't hesitate to take it up with the principle!"

"I'll tell you if something happens, like always," Katie murmured, closing her eyes and tiredly sipping her cocoa, "but letting other people handle my problems just makes the antagonism worse."

"Well, if that's the case, try your hardest to resist them, then: you're strong enough to handle things!" the woman murmured, then brightened up. "By the way, I have something that may cheer you up!"

"Really?" Katie asked, looking up at the woman with somber violet eyes. "What is it?'"

"Lady and gentle-girl, feast your eyes on this: ta-daaaa!" the elderly woman laughed, holding up a weathered book with a proud wink; Katie's mouth slowly fell open in shock and she stared at it blankly, not even believing her eyes. "It took me a very long time to save up enough money to buy this! It's one of the original copies, too... it's a rarity! And since you're technically the only person on the hold list, I can renew it for as long as you want! No restrictions, no complications, it's yours! Just give your friend my regards, okay?"

Katie's eyes very nearly started watering when she took the book from the librarian and touched the cover with shaking fingers.

"How in the world did you find this thing?!" she whispered, slowly looking up at Miss McKinley in sheer awe. "There are only ten thousand copies in existence! So, how?!"

"Trust me, it wasn't easy," the woman sighed, frowning a little as she thought about it. "I found it only by chance, honestly: I was shopping in Guam during last week's vacation when I spotted the title in a rundown bookstore. They wanted six hundred dollars for that book! I had to work for a little while during my vacation to completely afford it, but in the end, it's here and you're happy. Right?"

Katie didn't respond.

On top of being an emotional wreck, she was extremely tired since she'd been having vivid, recurring nightmares for the past three months. Her social worker had told her the bad dreams would pass nearly two weeks ago when she'd brought it up, but he'd been wrong: they were getting worse.

In fact... lately, she had been having extremely sinister nightmares concerning giant birds of all varieties, disembodied voices, blood, and lots of fire.

However, when Kate had finally opened up and discreetly spoken to the old librarian about a 'friend' who was having 'similar' nightmares, the albino had been startled to learn that the woman thought her visions actually sounded familiar. The result of that conversation had led to the discovery of a rare book with only ten thousand copies on the market.

Unfortunately, the fact that her nightmares had led to the discovery of this book had seriously frightened her.

She hadn't wanted to think they were real.

"Good God..." Katie whispered, heart dropping through the floor when she flipped the book open to the first page; an evil-looking monster with black wings had been sketched into it. "U-u-um... thank you, Miss McKinley... my... friend will be happy now that we can find out what her dreams mean."

"Don't you worry about a thing, little dear," the woman sighed, giving her that warm, grandmotherly grin before she glanced at the clock. "Oh, my! Is it really almost six thirty already?! You should hurry up and get to your first class, otherwise you'll end up being tardy!"

"I can't," the pale girl mumbled, lowering her eyes in dismay. "Alan and his cronies have no qualms about skipping classes, so I'm kind of stuck here. They know I always head for the library each morning, remember? I had to go through the back window last time since they wouldn't go away."

"Oh, is that all? Maybe I can help you," the librarian chuckled, heading over to her desk and opening the top drawer; when she pulled out a tiny key and held it out to Katie, the silver-haired teen frowned and took it with gentle hands. "See? It's good being a teacher's pet now and then!"

"What's this?" Katie hesitantly asked, blinking at the key with a worried expression. "I mean... what does it go to? The window?"

"No, silly, it's the key to the back door," the elderly woman replied, pointing to the door resting at the very back of the library. "It lets out near the drama rooms, and the hallway will take you right to the cafeteria. I'm sure you'll be able to find your way from there, right?"

"Yes... I often go down to the drama rooms to read after school gets out," Katie admitted, stuffing the book into her backpack. "Are you sure you don't mind doing this for me, though? I mean, couldn't you get in trouble for loaning me one of the faculty keys?"

"Oh, pish posh! You'd never tattle on me," the old woman giggled, waving a dainty hand. "Get going, kiddo... don't be late for class."

"Okay... thanks again," Katie sighed, giving the woman a rare smile before she jogged towards the door. However, just before she got there, a terrible ache assaulted her and her feet slowed. After a moment, she turned around and clenched her fists. "Um, hey... I... this morning... I..."

"Yes?" Mrs. McKinley asked, blinking at her with a grandmotherly smile. "What is it?"

The girl stood there for a long moment, trying to figure out what she wanted to say in order to make the tightness in her heart go away. Katie opened her mouth, as if she were going to speak, but then she closed it again and lowered her eyes: not long after, her irises became somewhat lifeless and they lost their sheen once again. Shaking her head, she turned away from the confused librarian and unlocked the rear door; the girl blinked when it opened and pocketed the key before giving the librarian a long look.

The woman frowned with worry when the albino stared at her for several moments of silence.

Trying to convey a message that would most likely never get through.

Then she slipped out into the drama corridor, hefting her bag as she prepared to face the worst.

It wasn't because of her situation, though... it was because, she was still holding onto the last shreds of her optimism.

Her motto was simple: if you only expect the worst, you can only be pleasantly surprised.

And as terrible as it might sound, it was with good reason that her ideals had fallen so far: it had been ingrained in her heart and her head a long time ago that if you feel, you will break... but if you _don't_ feel, nothing can hurt you. But because her treacherous heart wasn't made of stone, hurt was all she understood, no matter how much she wanted to avoid it.

And that's why... on days when she didn't go to her private high school, she simply threw on some old clothes and headed out into the woods behind her house to be alone. She had a garden back there, a place she had been tending to for months now. Her garden was peaceful and quiet... soothing, in a way. It was so different from her normal, chaotic, everyday life that she would have preferred being homeless.

If only so she could live in her garden forever.

Because, when Katie was tending to her secret garden, there was no pain... there was no sadness or anxiety... there was no guilt.

There was no need to pretend that she was normal.

And if she was going to be honest with herself... Katherine Ashley Sanders was not a normal girl.

At all.


	2. Chapter 1: A Normal Day

**Chapter One: Just a Normal Day**

_The first thing she noticed was the darkness._

_It was pitch black but smelled damp and musty... almost like the air of an old cellar. __It seemed oddly familiar to her, even though she couldn't recall ever being in such a place. __The mustiness of this void was also accompanied by a faint metallic scent that burned her nose... copper...? Or was it blood? The sound of water droplets falling into a puddle echoed from somewhere deep within the cold shadows, causing the hair on the back of her neck to stand up. Upon sitting up, she felt something soft slide over her bare shoulders and paused... she knew what it was... __it was hair._

_Yes, it was definitely her hair: she could remember that much. _

_Her hair was white, and extremely long according to her brother._

_Wait... brother?_

_Who was her brother?_

_Better yet, where on earth was she?_

_"Where am I...?" Kate whispered, touching her forehead in groggy confusion. "How did I get here?"_

_After feeling around in the dark, her small hands were met with the sensation of slick, wet bricks sliding across her fingertips: she couldn't remember anything, but she knew that this must have been part of the walls surrounding her. Slowly getting up from the cold stone floor, the girl felt around and tried to create an image in her head like a blind person would._

_The place was eerily silent to the point where her shallow breathing seemed too loud._

_Yet, despite the fact there was no sound other than her breathing, the girl somehow felt as though someone else was here in the dark - someone who was watching her move around with unfriendly eyes. Her small hand slipped on the slick wall when a set of footsteps echoed through the air directly in front of her... almost as though someone were walking down a long hall just on the other side of a nearby wall. Ignoring her blindness, the tiny girl hurried towards the source of the sound with her small hand still feeling for a door._

_When her fingers slid across a metal surface, her heart skipped a beat.__ After feeling around,__ she finally found a knob... and twisted it with all of her strength._

_The moment __that__ door opened wide... the world around her dissolved with a blinding light and she suddenly found herself staring at a galaxy that had been dotted with millions upon millions of flickering stars. Nothing else was surrounding her except for that night sky: she was floating in an emptiness that seemed to stretch onward until the end of time._

_"Where am I?" she whispered, slowly looking around as her voice echoed away into the void of stars. "Hello?"_

_Her cloud-white hair slid around her body in soft tendrils as she gazed at everything, drifting in a weightless manner. A bright flash of light suddenly lit up the world around her, stirring the stars like ripples in a pond. When it faded, she beheld a handsome woman with extraordinarily long hair standing upon a rock in the middle of a liquid surface. Somehow, Katie knew she'd seen this lady somewhere once before... and even though she couldn't remember why, she knew the woman was powerful._

_"Who are you?" Katherine whispered, staring at the woman from her spot in the swirling starlight. "Where are we? Why are we here?"_

_"It is has been a long time," the woman stated in a lilting voice, staring at her face with gentle blue eyes. "You are no longer who you once were, but your soul and your heart are the same. Great evil is looking for you... you must not be pulled back into the stream of destiny, for if you do... your fate will repeat itself."_

_"My... fate?" Katie asked, staring at the woman with blank eyes. "What do you mean? Who are you?"_

_The woman merely stared at her with eyes that seemed wise beyond their age: with an otherworldly grace, the gorgeous blonde lifted her hand..._

_And horrifying visions instantly burned their way into Katherine's mind._

_Her pupils dilated and she shrieked, clutching her head as flashes of horrifying monsters slitting the throats of screaming men and women roared through her head. Flashes of death... destruction, fire... her pink eyes widened when she beheld visions of crows feasting on rotting flesh, and she choked when their black feathers started raining down upon the blood-soaked earth. High above, a crimson moon hung in the air, and a single, raw-throated scream of agony echoed towards the heavens, wild like an animal's roar._

_The sound of it stirred her heart in an unfamiliar way. _

_Grief? Familiarity?_

"_Do not return," the blonde woman stated, lowering her arm with a solemn air. "You mustn't return to this Land. Your life here ended long ago."_

_"W-what are you saying?!" Katie shrieked, staring at the woman with a horrified expression. "Who ARE you?!"_

_However, she froze and stared at something just beyond the spot where the blonde woman was standing. The stars around her were rippling... but then, in a single moment, they were burned away in a searing wave of heat and time somehow slowed down. Katie's silver hair was blasted away from her body in a weightless manner and her heart flew up her throat when a giant cat's eye made of fire rose behind the flickering blonde woman. She squeaked and clamped up like a mouse when the pupil contracted into a catlike slit and landed on her shaking form._

_The heat from its evil gaze made her heart quiver violently._

_However... a demonic voice soon drowned out the sound of the woman in front of her._

_The girl's amethyst eyes widened in horror._

_"_**_You cannot hide..._**_" the hellish voice whispered, making her heart nearly stop; the mere sound of it sent a jolt of icy terror sweeping through her body. Katie covered her ears and tried not to listen anymore, but the voice was echoing inside her head rather than outside of it. "_**_I see you..._**_"_

"-ate!" a muffled voice called.

_"What IS this?!" Katherine cried, shielding her face when the fiery wind intensified. "Ow! Ow! Someone, help me!"_

_"T-!" the woman called, voice cutting out and filling with static. "Do not... - urn! Fate... history... -eware of the gatekee-!"_

_Katherine's long hair drifted around as the heat from the Eye's gaze fell across her body... and all of a sudden, she couldn't move._

_Her amethyst eyes started turning yellow from the inside out, glowing like a demon's in spite of her terrified expression._

_She could feel the fires of evil spreading throughout her soul._

_"Someone... help... me..." Katie whispered, unable to move or do anything as her life was extinguished by the fires of hell. "Nathan... help..."_

_"_**_I see you..."_**_ the demonic voice chanted, chuckling in a gravelly tone when Katie's body began to glow yellow. "_**_I've found you!_**_"_

_"No!" she whispered, slowly falling to her knees when a burning pain started to sear through her back. "Leave me... alone!"_

_"_**_Come to me!_**_" the eye hissed; the blonde woman's blue eyes slowly widened when Katie's hair started lifting towards the sky and her body erupted with a wave of brilliant blue fire. "_**_Come back to the fires of Mor-_**_"_

"KATE ASHLEY! GET _UP!"_ someone roared, voice a little muffled. "NATHANIEL! GET YOUR LITTLE SISTER OUT OF BED, OR SO HELP ME GOD, I'LL STRANGLE HER!"

With a violent jolt, Katie's eyes snapped open wide and she gasped, frantically looking around her room with a palpitating heart. Her breathing was ragged and uneven as she took in her familiar surroundings. After a few moments of trying to calm her racing pulse, the albino girl slowly sat up and touched her forehead: strands of her silver hair were plastered against her cheeks and neck due to the cold sweat that had enveloped her body.

"It was just a dream..." she whispered hoarsely, closing her eyes. "It was another nightmare. Not real."

"Kate!" Nate's voice loudly hissed, banging on her door. "Kate, come on! Get up! The old bitch is in a really bad mood today!"

"Katherine!" a female voice shrieked from somewhere far below. "Get your ass out of that bed right now or I swear I'll beat your ass! I mean it! And Nate, you'll be sleeping outside tonight if you don't do what I say!"

"What'd I tell ya," Nate muttered, opening the door and sliding inside her room with a weary posture. "She threatened me, too."

When the boy turned around and looked at her, Kate was once again struck with the odd sensation that she was looking at herself with short hair. Her twin looked almost exactly like her in every way aside from his broader shoulders, slightly thicker jaw, and taller stature. His facial features were very thin and soft like hers were, and his eyes had the exact same shape as her own, but there was something slightly more masculine about his face.

Regardless of that fact, whenever the twins were standing side by side, they looked nearly identical.

"This is rare," Kate stated quietly, staring at her brother with blank eyes. "You hardly ever come into my room, even when Toni and her crazy boyfriend are angry."

"Just hurry up and get dressed!" Nate snapped, folding his arms before turning around. "I'm not leaving your room until you're ready, all right?! We're thirty minutes late, and I _don't_ want to sleep outside tonight! Toni threatened to put me out again if I didn't get you up within three minutes. That stupid bitch apparently thinks you'll listen better if I'm the one doing all the nagging!"

Kate's eyes widened and she bolted out of bed: the last thing she wanted was to get beat up first thing in the morning.

More importantly, she didn't want to give Nate another reason to hate her.

After furiously rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, the girl hastily brushed her thigh-length hair and pulled her side-bangs behind her head, expertly tying them in place with a large black ribbon.

Kate then slipped on her school clothes, and after making a few adjustments to her Academy uniform, she buttoned her navy-blue blazer, zipped up her knee-length black skirt, and hastily grabbed her bag.

"I'm disgusted by how quickly you did that," Nate sneered, averting his eyes. "You're really starting to act like Emily."

Kate's heart skipped a beat and her stomach tied itself into a painful knot at the statement.

She wanted to let out a protest, but her throat locked up and she merely remained silent since there really was nothing she could say to counter his words. Even though she and her twin were completely identical aside from their genders, the boy hated her more than the families they'd been forced to live with over the years. The two of them had all of the same tastes and were extremely similar in personality... but Nate hated her to the point where he'd sided with her enemies instead of protecting her from them.

After a moment, she let it go and her eyes deadened.

"If Toni would give us more than two minutes to get ready, we'd actually be on time," Kate quietly replied, ignoring his latter statement. "I've always been awkward with my movements, so doing this every single day isn't as easy as it looks... trust me."

"Shut up," Nate grunted, lifting his violet eyes and glaring at her hair, "and while you're at it, take the damn ribbon out. It's contraband at school, anyway: no jewelry or hair ornaments."

"No," Kate retorted softly, not meeting his gaze. "Emily was the one who gave it to me."

"And that's precisely why I don't like it," the boy snarled, making her flinch. "You're trying to be like her and it pisses me off! You have no right to idolize her, so take the fucking ribbon out of your hair!"

"No," Kate weakly repeated, turning away from him and folding her arms. "Nate... what happened that day... it wasn't my fault."

"Bullshit!" Nate hissed, stomping past the girl so quickly that tendrils of her long hair followed him. "God, I _really_ hope something horrible happens to you today. Disappear already!"

Kate flinched and closed her eyes when he slammed the door shut and thumped down the stairs.

"Again..." she whispered, feeling her eyes stinging. "How many times have you said it this week, Nathan?"

She didn't know, exactly, but it had to have been over twenty times in the last three days alone.

Once she was able to shake off the pain coursing through her heart, the pale girl slinked out of her room and walked past her angry-eyed foster mother.

The woman already had a bottle of Bud Light in her hands.

"Hold it right there, you little shit!" Toni snapped, clutching her arm; the girl winced a bit when the woman's fingers dug into her skin, but she stopped long enough to look at her. "I got a call from one of your teachers yesterday asking if your hair and eye color were natural, and I'm pissed because he threw a tantrum."

"How is that my fault?" Katherine carefully inquired, shivering and averting her eyes when the woman glared. "Nathan and I never asked to look like this."

"Well, good," the woman sneered, fingers tightening in anger. "If that's the case, tell your brother that he needs to pick up a double set of colored contacts from the market today. I'm taking both of you to dye your hair blonde this afternoon!"

"Huh?!" Katie squeaked, eyes widening in horror. "T-Toni, you can't! I'm pretty sure a lot of other albinos can do that kind of stuff, but WE can't do it because OUR type of albinism won't allow it! Our eyes are too sensitive for contacts, and our hair will fall out if we try to dye it! It won't work, and I am _not _walking around completely bald AND blind because of you! I will LEAVE before that happens."

The woman looked startled by her response, but it quickly turned to rage.

"Don't talk back to me, you little shit!" the woman snapped, thrusting the girl forward with both hands. "If it's not possible the good old fashioned way, we'll do a temporary dye! Now get going and don't be late! If I get a call saying you were tardy, I'll make you wish you were never born!"

Kate very nearly smacked her cheek on the corner of the door in an attempt to catch her balance, but once she was outside she sprinted down the city streets as fast as she could go. This part of her day was the trickiest since she had to walk three miles each morning without being late for her first class. Toni wouldn't pay for her get on a bus... but to be frank, she was somewhat glad it had turned out this way since she loved to run.

Running made her dream of the day she could keep going without needing to stop.

However, when she was about halfway to her destination, Kate made it to the East River Overpass on Saint Matthew's BLVD and spotted her twin stopping in front of a pretty brunette wearing their academy uniform. She instantly slowed to a halt and gazed at the two of them, heart inexplicably growing heavier when they leaned against the metal railing and started talking to each other.

She watched the two of them for a little while, wondering what they were doing... but then her brother turned.

And the sound of the traffic, the water... no, _everything... _it all went silent in her ears.

For a long moment, all she could do was stare, eyes large and knees shaking.

The world blurred.

Her eyes burned.

And for the first time in a very, very long time... tears slid down her cheeks, distorting what lay before her.

Her brother was smiling.

The last time she'd seen him smile, for any reason, had been almost six years ago.

She stood there, feeling as though she were going to shatter into pieces, and watched as her brother chatted with the brunette at his side.

_He hates me,_ Katherine realized, feeling her chest tightening; rubbing her eyes, she lowered her head and buried her face in her hands. _He really hates me... if he can smile at other people like that with no problem when I'm not around, there's no other explanation for it._

Secretly, she had believed that he simply hated the world. That he was angry about everything that had happened. That maybe, deep down, he cared about her but couldn't express it anymore.

She had been wrong.

He didn't hate the world.

He hated _her._

She stood there for an immeasurable amount of time, muscles trembling and heart burning, face buried in her hands as the chilling New York wind tugged at her hair: during that time, her brother and the brunette walked away, holding each other's hands. When they finally turned around the corner and vanished from sight, Kate continued standing there. Shaking. After several more moments, she lifted her face and rubbed her eyes. Then she slowly turned away and looked out over the East River with a haunted expression.

She had always known that her brother blamed her for what had happened.

The proof she had rested in the fact that he was always saying that he wished something bad would happen to her.

He didn't need her at all... hell, he didn't even want to be anywhere near her.

He was right.

Disappearing would be a good thing.

Slowly climbing up onto the bridge railing, the girl sat down on the edge of it and looked out at the canal, planning to jump off.

But once again, just like that day on the hotel rooftop, her muscles froze and all she could do was stare at the watery chasm below.

She'd wanted to die for a long time now, but she was too much of a coward: she couldn't take action because she was too scared to try.

Her hair billowed around her face when a cold wind touched her back, ruffling her pleated skirt.

She sat there, willing her body to move... but it wouldn't budge.

So she lifted her eyes and took in what lay before her, trying to find something, anything... just like before. Beyond the canal was the ocean... and since it was a very cold, grey day, she felt as though the sea matched her mood. After a moment of gazing at the endless planes of gray water in front of her, she slid to her feet and took a deep breath, planning to jump for real.

However, someone unexpectedly caught her wrist and she glanced to the left, eyeing the culprit with irritated eyes. She furrowed her brows when she realized it was a little boy standing behind her: he didn't look any older than ten years old.

She froze when he looked at her with piercing brown eyes.

"You mustn't jump," he stated calmly, examining her with an emotionless visage. "You're... Precious."

Katherine blinked, staring at him in total bewilderment.

"Who the hell are you?" the girl deadpanned, frowning at him. "You shouldn't say stuff like that to people: it's not funny!"

"You're right, Precious... it's not," the boy quietly replied, looking at her with that same unnervingly piercing expression. "You mustn't jump. Must not harm yourself."

"Don't try to tell me what to do! You're just a little kid!" Kate snapped, jerking her hand out of his grasp. "You don't know me!"

The boy's face twisted into a rather strange looking smile.

"We know you very well... because you are my own..." he stated gently, looking up at her with eyes that weren't all there. "My precious..."

"Stop calling me Precious, you little creep!" the albino spat, mouth pulling taught. "You don't know me! You're just some brat who probably isn't even old enough to understand what depression is!"

"Oh, but we do know," the boy giggled, looking straight into her eyes with a fairly antagonistic smile. "We know everything... about your school, about your brother, and about the _red rivers_."

Katherine froze like a statue.

She gaped at him with huge eyes, face draining completely of color: knees shaking, she observed the kid with a more wary visage, suddenly feeling afraid of him.

"How... how do you know about that?!" she stammered, shaking her head without taking her eyes off his. "How?! Tell me!"

"You'll know the truth soon enough, Precious," he sighed, looking at her with that same strange smile. "After all, the Dark Master is looking for us."

"Wait, what?" Kate whispered, heart skipping a beat when she recalled her nightmares. "What do you mean by Dark Master?"

However, the boy's brown eyes merely flicked upward and he stared at something high above in a spacey manner: before he could say anything more, a huge black feather fell down in front of Katie's eyes, making the hair on her neck stand up. When a deep thundering sound and a sudden screech unexpectedly split the air far in the distance, the girl jumped and whirled to face the ocean in in alarm.

"Be careful, Precious," the boy murmured quietly, voice fading away. "He is close to us."

"Quit it with the creeper act!" Kate snapped, staring off at the ocean with blank eyes. "Seriously, didn't you hear that?! What _was_ it?! An explosion...?"

The thundering sound had indeed resembled an explosion, but the noise that had come after it had curdled her blood.

It had sounded like a cross between a banshee's shriek and a raven's croak.

It was like something clean out of a child's nightmare.

The girl slowly rubbed her arms and leaned forward, squinting to see past the fog that was slowly moving across the distant horizon towards landfall.

"What in the world was that?" Kate finally muttered, looking up at the sky. "Hey, Kid, did you even hear it?"

However, the albino girl trailed off once she turned around since the boy she'd been talking to had vanished. Katherine instantly blinked and looked around, even going as far as leaning over the edge of the water just in case the crazy boy had jumped off the bridge. Somehow, he had actually managed to disappear without a single trace, which completely baffled her. She was just about to turn and jump off the bridge herself when another hand gripped her wrist.

"Hi! It seems we meet yet again," a familiar voice stated, making the girl twitch; she blinked when she was forcibly pulled off the railing and set flat on her feet without warning. "Still, why is it that every time I see you, you're in a rather dangerous situation? Are you trying to kill yourself or are you just a thrill seeker?"

Kate sighed in irritation when she beheld a familiar clean-cut man wearing a pinstripe suit.

The man from the hotel rooftop was back.

Unfortunately, the guy hadn't left her alone since she'd had the vision of him getting into that car accident two weeks ago: ever since, he'd been popping up out of nowhere at the weirdest of times. Usually when she was contemplating different ways to die or even just standing in a fairly precarious-looking situation.

Such as the one she was currently in.

"Honestly, I don't even know anymore," the girl grumbled, folding her arms and ignoring the grey-eyed man in front of her. "Why the hell are you here again? Are you stalking me or something?"

"Not at all," he chuckled, making the girl look up at him in disbelief; he was smiling broadly and had an odd gleam in his eyes. "I spotted you by chance, that's all."

"And you keep acting like you know me... why?" Kate asked suspiciously, giving him a wary stare. "Are you one of those crazy types who has no friends? Because if you are, you're talking to the wrong person: I don't know if you've noticed it yet, but I'm not exactly a people person, either."

"You sure have a grim way of looking at things!" the man laughed, slapping his knee. "No, I just wanted to thank you again for what you did."

"Well, get on with it then," Katherine deadpanned, wanting nothing more than for him to leave her alone. "I have to get to school, and this is the twentieth time you've found me just to thank me."

"Okay, okay, I lied... I actually have a question," he sighed, then looked around and leaned close to her face, which in turn made her lean away with furrowed brows. "Look... I don't know how you knew what was going to happen to me that day, but your warning actually saved my life. I was curious about what you said to me, so I planned on ignoring my phone during the entire drive to work."

"And let me guess," Kate droned, rolling her eyes, "you did?"

"Yes, I did," the man confirmed, nodding before his bright expression turned dark, "but when I got to the stoplight at the crossing of Fifth Avenue and Broadway, I received a really important call from my boss. The coincidence gave me a terrible start, I'll admit it flat out... but still, I waited. Then, as terrifying as it was... when the light turned green... a runaway bus going sixty miles an hour _flew_ across the street, lost control, and crashed into a telephone pole."

Katherine listened with hollow eyes: her irises literally had no sheen whatsoever.

"I swear to god," the man continued, "if it hadn't been for you, I probably would pulled out in front of it."

"Well, be glad you didn't then," she muttered, turning as if to walk away. "I'm going to be late."

"Please, tell me," her stalker exclaimed. "How did you know?! How did you know about the accident? And about my car?"

Kate stood there with a grim expression on her face, not meeting his eyes.

"I don't really want to talk about that," Katie retorted, instantly stepping away from him with a fierce glare. "Just be thankful that my premonition saved your life and forget that this ever happened. From here on out, you never met me."

"Premonition?" the man asked, staring at her with a fierce curiosity. "You mean, like... a _psychic_ premonition?"

"Call it what you want, I don't really care," Kate snapped, grabbing her bag and turning on her heel. "Anyway, you came here to thank me, right? Well, here ya go: you're welcome! Now, please go away before I file a restraining order!"

"Calm down," the man sighed, giving her a subtle scowl. "All I wanted to do was find out the truth and thank you... okay?"

"Thank me in a way that doesn't involve interacting with me, then," Kate snapped, giving him a glare. "I don't like people, so leave me alone! I have enough of my own problems to deal with!"

Just as she was about to storm off, she happened to catch a glimpse of the huge black feather resting on the ground where the mystery boy had been standing. After a moment of staring at it with furrowed brows, Kate had a weird mental flash of nine hooded figures standing in a dark classroom and shook her head before jogging towards her school. Still, there were shivers running down her spine and for some reason, she had been thoroughly disturbed by what had transpired.

Not to mention she also had a bad feeling about the guy she kept bumping into: he seemed a little too sketchy for comfort.

The rest of the walk to school was uneventful.

However, since there wasn't enough time to stop by the library, Kate attempted to walk to her first class... but she was halted by a group of girls standing outside of the door.

Katie stared at them for a moment, wondering why they were blocking her, until a voice split the silence of the hall.

"Well, look who it is," a familiar lilting drawl stated, making the albino wince. "We never thought you'd show up!"

Slowly turning her head, Katherine tilted her head when she found herself staring at three vaguely familiar females: the girl on the left was Alexa Milano, a Hispanic beauty who was known throughout the Academy for procuring fake ID cards; the girl on the right was a redheaded punk named Brittany Thompson, who had a temper to match her hair; and the girl leading the two of them was none other Tiffany Walt, the Queen Bee of Ivy Ridge. Moving in like vultures, Brittany and Alexa leaned against the lockers on either side of Kate with folded arms.

Tiffany, on the other hand, walked right up to Katherine.

"I smell a fake blonde whore," she drawled, waving her hand in front of her nose. "You should really study outside. We don't want to get an STD from you."

Irritation sparked in Katherine's heart upon hearing that, and before she could stop herself, she let out a bitter retort.

"Hypocrisy isn't a virtue, Tiffany," she murmured, not lifting her eyes, "and for the record, my hair is _white. _Not blonde."

_"White?"_ Tiffany laughed, looking around to see if anyone else was witnessing this perfect moment of comedy. "Seriously, who the hell dyes their hair _white?!"_

Kate clenched her jaw, trying to fight it back... but, she couldn't.

Tiffany had been sitting next to her in class since the day she'd first transferred, but that had only given her a chance to figure out what bugged her.

And it pissed her off.

"Don't talk about me like you _know_ me, bitch," the albino hissed, finally losing her cool; everyone fell silent and students stared at her all over the place. "Just because you spend all your class time staring at me doesn't mean you know me. In fact, aside from what little you've seen, you know absolutely nothing about me. I've looked like this since the day I was born: I've never dyed my hair, I'm not wearing contacts, and unlike you, I'm still a _virgin_, so just shut up and _leave me the hell alone._"

With that, she turned and stalked back over to the door, glaring at the girls in front of it.

"Move," Kate stated coldly, looking at them with sharp violet eyes. "Now."

Everyone instantly backed off, so she moved into the room and headed over to her desk.

"What a weirdo," one of the girls still standing in the hall muttered. "Maybe the rumors about her being a witch really _are_ true."

"I've heard that Albinos are actually considered demons in some countries," another girl whispered. "Don't doubt the rumors! There really is something off about her!"

"Ew..." a third girl muttered. "So, she's an albino? Nasty... that's even worse than a bad dye-job."

"What's an albino?" a blonde girl standing near them asked.

"It's a viral disease that turns rats, snakes, and people pure white," a black girl snorted. "I heard it's contagious."

"For real?!" a boy exclaimed, hurrying over. "So, the witch actually caught a disease that turned her hair and skin totally white? And that's why she looks so weird?"

"Yeah," the black girl explained, lifting her head proudly. "I heard it also turns people's eyes bright red. I mean, just take a look at her brother! He's all white, too! He probably caught the damn virus! People in Africa get it all the time, trust me."

"Oh, man, that's freaky," the blonde girl mumbled, shivering. "I really hope I don't catch the albino disease from going to class with her."

Kate rolled her eyes in disgust at their outrageous fantasies and took her seat by the window, pulling out her usual book.

After she cracked it open, she ignored everyone around her.

By the time the other girls took their seats, she was already so far into the pages that the snickers and subtle antagonism didn't even register. It was the book Mrs. McKinley had given her. Every day since she'd gotten it, the girl read it everywhere she went, looking for something she couldn't place: at school, at home, whenever she had a spare moment... even until her eyes closed.

Unfortunately, everything she'd seen in it so far was ridiculous: from mythological creatures to monsters she'd never even heard of before, even in movies, this book had it all.

It contained descriptions about things like angels, demons, orcs, winged horses, giant wolves, walking trees, and giant birds... about fairies, will-o'-the-wisps, sea serpents, trolls, and so much more... so much, in fact, that it made her head spin.

And yet, so far she hadn't seen a single thing that sparked familiarity with her nightmares: for all her searching, this was really just a regular mythology book, and it obviously had nothing to do with her dreams since none of the creatures within its pages actually existed.

Even so, she read through it until the teacher came in, then put the book away and stared out the window: there was a small announcement concerning the student body president and a speech, but she hardly noticed.

The girl who'd been chosen to manage the class, Erika Montgomery, was given free reign over her classmates while the teacher went to the office.

Unfortunately, that's also when things began to go downhill.

"As you all know," Erika stated evenly, addressing the class with folded hands, "the grading system for this half of the term is going to be a bit different since the school made some changes to our lessons. From today onward, every single person sitting in this classroom contributes to the average grading system. Which basically means you'll be compared to all the other classes. The teachers believe some competitive motivation is necessary to get our school rating up, so let's do our best, okay?"

"Excuse me?" Tiffany suddenly called. "I have a question about the seating chart."

"Yes?" Erika called, lifting her stunning blue eyes and looking at her with a confident expression. "What is it?"

"Is it okay if I change my seat?" Tiffany inquired, looking at her fingernails with a cute smile. "I'm getting tired of this one."

"Eh? I... well, I'm not so sure about that, since... the school has a specific order..." Erika faltered, staring at the girl in dismay. "The seating chart is all arranged by registration number."

"Come on! Since we're starting out with this new grading system and all, I figured it would be all right!" the blonde girl retorted, tossing her hair. "It'll give me a fresh start, you know?"

"Why don't you just tell her the truth?" another girl muttered, looking up at her with a smirk. "Just admit that you don't want to sit next to the _witch."_

Kate didn't even blink when the class started sniggering, nor did she raise her eyes when Erika's confident expression faltered.

Several people immediately turned to look at the albino girl, but she purposely kept her face blank and stared at her hands. This was pretty common: every now and then, a daringly bold student would do something to get a little attention and make a fool out of her, so it didn't really bother her as much as it should have. Especially since it was Tiffany doing the mocking: even though Little Miss Blondie was a lovely little angel in front of the teachers, there wasn't a single girl in their whole school who _didn't _know she was always standing on a shady street corner after dark.

Plus, sex-related rumors in their school circulated really quick since the guys liked to brag.

Long-story short, Tiffany was the Academy's bicycle: nearly every guy in school had gotten a ride at least once at some point.

Katherine shuddered and uncomfortably tightened her knees together, feeling nauseous.

She didn't get how people could lose their morality like that.

"Whatever," the blonde girl sighed, standing up and cocking her hip; after a moment, she looked at everyone with a mocking grin. "It's just, she's too _creepy!_ I can't stand it anymore! She's always reading books with pictures of dragons and spells and wizards or whatever, and don't even get me started on all the stuff she draws in her notebook! She's too weird to be my partner!"

"What'd you expect?" a boy hooted, eliciting even louder fits of laughter. "She's a witch! She pretty much _lives_ on that crap!"

"Come on! Someone change seats with me!" the blonde girl wailed, flailing her arms in a mocking manner. "I don't wanna get the albino disease!"

"Please, stop it!" Erika called, futilely trying to speak over the uproarious laughter that filled the room. "Everyone, be quiet! This isn't right!"

"Who cares?" Tiffany snorted, shooting the downtrodden albino girl a smug look. "This freak makes it impossible. How can I focus if I need to worry about getting cursed or sick with her disease?!"

_Albinism isn't like that... _Katie silently protested, staring at her desk with unhappy violet eyes. _I'm not a witch..._ _my dreams... these visions... they're not my fault._

Unfortunately, nobody cared... and they most likely never would, so she kept her mouth shut.


	3. Chapter 2: Ripples

**Chapter Two: Ripples**

_The darkness had come for her again._

_Katie slowly opened her eyes and stared into the void of shadows, her heart speeding up almost instinctively._

_The girl could hear the same distant dripping sound and smell the same cloying metallic air... as though the room were full of stale blood. Her heart skipped a beat when the realization hit her: something or someone had been slaughtered down here, all alone in the darkness. The albino lifted her hands, but paused when she felt something strange: instead of hitting a slick stone wall, she felt warm skin and satin-like hair beneath her fingertips. After several moments of touching this anomaly with a bit of apprehension, she registered heavy breathing and blinked._

_She didn't know why, but she vaguely recognized the person standing in front of her._

_Not enough to know who it was, but enough to tell her this person was familiar._

_"Who are you...?" Katie whispered, struggling to see through the shadows. "Why are you here?"_

_"Shut up..." a female voice sneered, making her twitch. "I've always hated your 'oh-poor-me' act! I'm going to cut him away from you... you're the reason he's so unhappy!"_

_"_**_I see you..._**_" a familiar ragged voice whispered, echoing out of the darkness with the chilling rasp of fire. "_**_I've found you..._**_"_

_Almost immediately, the void of stars filled the air and Katie saw a gorgeous brunette standing in front of her. Katherine twitched when she realized she was staring at the the student council president of her school, Erika Montgomery: the girl's crystal blue eyes were full of cold hatred, and her expression was wrinkled with a terrible smile that had been laced with rage and satisfaction. It wasn't until the moment her blue eyes began to mirror the fiery cat's eye that the albino realized she was holding an enormous sword high above her head, shimmering tip facing a blood-red sky._

_High above, a crimson moon rippled into view._

"-ight as well..." a distant voice sniggered. "After all, she won't know."

_Katherine's heart froze when the blade came down._

"NO!" Kate shrieked, bolting upright in bed and flailing around in mass hysteria. "NO! NO, NO, NO! NOOOOO! HELP!"

"Holy shit!" Nathan squawked, jumping away from her bedside with both hands raised. "Chill! Chill! I wasn't really gonna do it!"

"H-huh?" Katie asked, glancing at up her brother with frightened violet eyes: the boy was holding an uncapped marker in his left hand, but aside from that, he looked rather spooked for the first time in a long time. "Nathan...? Wait, w-what are you doing in my bedroom?! And what's with the marker?!"

"N-nothing, all right? Damn, Kate, you nearly gave me a heart attack," the albino boy irritably huffed, shakily capping the marker and shoving it into his back pocket; she blinked when he hefted his backpack. "Anyway, get dressed... Toni's letting us ride a public bus since another social worker is coming to check on us this afternoon. She said she doesn't want us to be tired for the meeting."

"For real?!" the girl squeaked, looking at him in surprise; he merely stared at her with a flat expression. "O-okay... um, I'll... I'll be ready in a second. Just hold on."

True to her word, the girl leapt out of bed and slipped on her uniform in a flurry of action, but her brother scowled when she tied the familiar black ribbon into her hair. Once Katie had gone through her usual morning routine and had grabbed all of her needed belongings, the twins reluctantly went downstairs together and headed for the bus stop without meeting each other's eyes: it was an extremely rare treat for them to be able to ride the bus and not have to walk all the way to school... but for some weird reason, Katie's smile didn't stay fixed in place like she'd intended it to.

She ended up staring into space with such a blank expression that she actually caught Nathan's attention.

"What's your deal?" he muttered, inconspicuously nudging her shoulder to avoid drawing attention; the girl blinked a few times and looked up at him with a dazed expression before shrugging and staring out the window. He seemed rather vexed by her lack of response, but the girl was kind of happy to see the anxiety lacing his expression. The fact that he was worried was a sign that he might have still cared about her.

Even if it was only a little.

"It's nothing... I'm just surprised by the fact that you're concerned," Katie murmured quietly, glancing up at him with stoic eyes when he frowned. "You've already sided with the popular groups in school, and you've befriended every other person who doesn't like me... so, why are you worried now?"

"You know why I'm worried," Nathan quietly retorted, giving her a serious look. "The last time you woke up screaming, someone_ died._"

That made Katie shut her mouth and keep it shut, since for once... he was completely correct.

It gave her a sick feeling in the core of her heart.

"No need to worry," Katie stated softly, finally giving her brother a very feeble smile. "This time, the nightmares are about me, and I don't plan on doing anything to prevent them."

Nathan's eyes flickered a bit upon hearing her statement, and for a few moments... he actually looked scared.

"You said 'nightmares...'" her brother stated slowly, narrowing his violet eyes and looking at her with a very serious expression, "not 'nightmare.' Does that mean you've been having more than one?"

"Why do you care?" Kate distantly inquired, not meeting his gaze and staring blankly out the window. "I already told you that you don't need to worry."

"Don't give me that bullshit," Nate snapped, gripping her shoulder and jerking her around. "Just tell me already!"

"Nathan, I've been having this same nightmare for so long that I stopped counting over four months ago," Katie lifelessly retorted, shooting him a sullen glare and ignoring how his eyes widened. "It's always the same one, so quit worrying. Like I said, it's not about you!"

"That's not the point!" he hissed, tightening his grip on her shoulders. "Why didn't you tell me until now?! Are you always _trying_ to piss me off?!"

"Excuse me?" Katherine sneered, lifting her hands and shoving him back a step; for once, he looked startled and taken aback by her actions. "What makes you think you're entitled to know anything about me?! Did you think being twins automatically means you get to know everything that happens in my life? Don't make me laugh, Nate... I didn't say anything to you because I didn't see a point to it."

"Why the hell not?" the albino boy snapped, glowering at her with a clenched jaw. "Why didn't you tell me?!"

"Because every single time you get mad, even over small matters, you say that you wish something bad would happen to me," Kate stated softly, turning away with a dazed expression on her face; she didn't even notice that her brother twitched. "I've started having nightmares about me dying, Nathan... and with the way things are between us, I figured you'd be happy enough to throw a _party _if I told you I thought I was going to die. That's why I kept my mouth shut. Are you satisfied now?"

Nathan recoiled at the girl's statement and stared at her with furrowed brows.

She wasn't looking at him any longer and seemed to be genuinely upset.

His sister was normally a very quiet and emotionless girl, and she rarely let things like anger get the best of her... especially when it came to how she addressed him. He had always figured that her sisterly attachment would never change, but seeing her act like this was kind of unsettling. Moreover, the boy couldn't deny that her venomous words stung a bit. After all, she had a good point: he'd been pretty awful to her lately, and he had no right to know about her private life.

"Yeah, I'm plenty satisfied," he sneered, hiding his unease. "I wouldn't lift a hand to save you if something really happened. In fact, I _hope_ it does."

"Don't say that!" Katie whispered, subtle anger switching to fright in an instant. "Even as a joke!"

"Don't start this again," Nathan hissed, gripping her wrist and squeezing it tight. "Don't try to act like the victim, all right?"

"Is that truly what you think I'm doing?" Katie wearily asked, lifting her arm and jerking her hand out of his grasp. "Let's just set one thing straight, Nathan: if anybody has a right to feel irritable and act pissy towards other people, it's _me._ Nightmare or not, I'm going to be completely fine. All right?"

"So? Like I just said," Nathan muttered, looking down at her with angry eyes, "I wouldn't lift a..."

The boy trailed off when he saw his sister's expression: her biting words didn't really match the empty expression on her face. He blinked and stared at her emotionless eyes; then he flicked his gaze to her hand, which was clutching the bar above them. They were on a public bus, after all: the seats were taken due to the morning rush hour, so they'd had to stand. Katie's hands were shaking violently, but she didn't appear to notice. She was staring out the window again, but her violet eyes were somehow... gone.

He didn't like how empty they looked.

"Anyone home?" Nathan hesitantly called, waving a hand in front of her eyes. "Seriously, are you okay?"

"Huh?" Katie quietly asked, looking at him with a dazed expression. "Did you say something?"

"Okay, now you've got me worried," the albino boy muttered, scowling out the window. "Cut the crap and tell me what's happening to you, okay? Every time you have a nightmare, it actually becomes real in some way or another, so if you're having those dreams again, even if they're about you, I want you to tell me what you see. You're the only family I have left, Katie: I hate you, and I sure as hell haven't forgiven you for what happened to Emily, but that doesn't mean I want you to die."

For a moment, the girl merely stared at the floor of the bus with a blank expression.

"I... don't think it will escalate that far, even if something _does_ happen," Katie hesitantly lied, giving him another halfhearted smile before she shrugged her shoulders. "In fact, I'm pretty sure I'll be fine. I mean, the nightmares are a little... um, well, how should I put this? Surreal? I mean, since dragons, giant birds, and huge demon eyes made of fire don't exactly exist, I reckon I'm safe from crap like that. It's just... in my dreams, I keep seeing the face of this creepy blonde woman who keeps telling me that I can't go somewhere... and that, if I do, I'll... die. I think."

"That doesn't sound like a joke," Nathan muttered, giving her a dark look of dismay. "Should I be worried...?"

"No, just continue ignoring me like you always have," Katie sighed, watching her brother's face. "That's all we can really do at this point."

Nathan seemed to be genuinely disturbed by what she'd told him.

With good reason, too.

In spite of the unrealistic factors that had come into play while she'd been sleeping, she still had a terrible feeling in her stomach... and it was only growing stronger with each passing day. She didn't know why yet, but something was coming for her... fast. And whatever it was, she knew it wasn't going to end well.

That much she was sure of.

A soft sigh slipped through Katie's nose as she watched the unfamiliar scenery pass by: in this part of New York, there were pockets of neighborhoods with houses that looked exactly the same. The girl secretly loved the suburbs, but sometimes the fact that everything looked alike really _bothered_ her. Her thoughts soon drifted to the little boy she'd seen a few days ago... the one who'd vanished. It had been almost a week since that day on the bridge, but so far, nothing had really happened to prove that what he'd said was true.

Still, the vanishing act was a little weird, and she wanted to talk to Miss McKinley about it.

"We're here..." Nathan muttered, roughly elbowing her arm before he hefted his backpack. "Let's go."

"No... you go ahead; I'll be fine on my own," Kate murmured in a soft tone, trying to keep her brother away from her. "I've always been fine."

"If you say so," he grunted, sounding like he didn't care one way or another. "Later."

Katie stared at his back as he headed down the aisle and got off the bus: then she followed him, moving much more slowly with her head lowered.

"Goodbye," she mumbled quietly, slipping the long strap of her bag over her shoulder and hefting her pack. "Have a good day."

The girl's arms were hanging limply at her sides after she gently stepped off the city bus, and with an emotionless expression, she looked at the path leading to the school. She swallowed when her long white hair was slowly swept off to the side by a gentle breeze... she could already feel her throat locking up.

Like always, she felt as though this were a death sentence.

However, when she finally arrived on school grounds, Katherine instinctively realized that something was wrong: every single girl and boy standing in the area glanced up and started looking at her. Everywhere Katherine looked, there were groups of boys and girls looking straight at her: some had piercings, dyed hair, multitudes of tattoos, but all of them were wearing identical school uniforms worn with careless attitudes.

"What the hell is up with everyone today...?" Kate wondered, slowly turning her head and looking at everyone with furrowed brows. "Why are they staring at me like that?"

She didn't know why, but staring was an understatement: death glares was a much more accurate description. Despite her expressionless exterior, she could feel her heart turning cold, and an unfamiliar ringing sensation started building up behind her eyes. After a few moments of standing stock still in the middle of the sidewalk, the girl slowly began walking toward the building doors, discreetly keeping a wary eye on the people around her. However, Tiffany and her little group halted the albino before she could walk up the stairs.

"So," the blonde girl giggled, giving her a sinister expression. "I guess there's no way for you to deny that you're a witch now, is there?"

Katherine blinked and did a double take, staring at her as though she'd grown another head.

"Um, sorry?" she asked, quirking an eyebrow and staring at the girl in total confusion. "What are you talking about?"

"Playing innocent won't work this time, skank," Brittany sneered, pulling a newspaper out of her purse and tapping it. "Your face is all over this thing! You can't hide the fact that you're a freak anymore!"

"I guess you must have been desperate for some positive attention, right?" Alexa drawled, leaning forward with a smirk. "Hey, girl... not judging or anything, but did you let him fuck you or something? Is that why he wrote such a nice story? "

Kate twitched and looked at her in disgust.

"Uh, what the hell are you idiots talking about?" Katie snapped, finally losing her cool. "Seriously, give me that thing."

When she snatched it out of Brittany's hands and unrolled it, the girls smirked since Katie's stoic demeanor went clean out the window within seconds. Her eyes immediately widened and her jaw tightened in shock.

On the front of the newspaper was a picture of her face: when it had been taken, she didn't exactly know, but there was a photo of her standing on the East River bridge and looking at the sky.

"See?" Alexa sneered, watching as the albino's jaw slowly went slack. "Can't hide it now, you little whore."

"What the hell?!" Katie whispered, collapsing to her knees when her legs buckled; she frantically flipped the page and started reading, eyes enormous and heart racing with disbelieving anxiety. "What the hell is this?! I never... I never gave anyone permission to do this! Who took that picture?!"

"Seriously?" Tiffany scoffed, checking her nails. "Don't try that... it's pathetic."

Kate couldn't even hear her: she was so immersed in reading what had been written that her mind had gone numb.

The headline was appalling.

**_"Teenage Girl saves a Fox News reporter using shocking psychic ability"_**

"No," Kate stammered, shaking her head before she started reading. "No, no, no, no, no! NO! That creepy stalker was a _news_ reporter?!"

Feeling herself going numb, the girl frantically read through the article, trying not to panic.

_In a shocking and somewhat unbelievable turn of events, last week we discovered that our own Fox News' reporter, Gene Hughes, was saved by a local New York teenager in a most unusual way. He claims that the girl warned him to be careful about driving through a well-known street crossing, and like any rational man, he didn't really pay attention to it... but then, in a startling turn of events, that warning actually saved his life._

_"From what I could tell, Katherine was a highly unusual young lady... in several different ways," Gene told News Reporter, Beyonca Martinez. "When I first met her, I thought she was suicidal. I mean, she was standing on the railing surrounding the edge of the Masteria Hotel's rooftop, but at the same time... there was a part of me that thought, incredulously, that she might be an angel. I know, I know, it sounds ridiculous, but it's true. I've never seen anyone with white hair before, and her eyes... they were like something right out of a fairy tale."_

_When we asked Gene to recount his experiences with the teen, he claimed that she warned him about the connection between his phone and the accident. Low and behold, within ten seconds of arriving at the street crossing, his phone did indeed start ringing: Gene was so spooked that he proceeded to ignore the call, which was the key that saved his life._

_"If I_ _had ignored the warning she'd given me and picked up __that__ call," Gene tells Fox, looking at the reporters with shaken eyes, "I might not be standing here today. That girl saved my life: ten seconds after that phone rang, a runaway bus shredded across the street and crashed into a telephone pole. To think, that could have been me... it's terrifying."_

_According to witnesses, who also saw the accident, nobody on the bus was seriously injured, but there were quite a few scrapes and bruises. We've asked Gene if he thinks this brave and somewhat unusual girl would be willing to meet with Fox News for a formal report, but as of right now, he doesn't know anything about her aside from her name._

Kate was in shock: the little color in her cheeks had completely gone white, and her eyes were blank with horror.

"What's wrong, Witch?" Tiffany asked, leaning down with a nasty little smirk. "Cat got your tongue?"

Shredding the newspaper without a word, Katie lunged to her feet and tore up the stairs.

Everyone's eyes were on her when she tore down the hall, but she was so determined to get away from the people around her that she ended up running around for ten minutes before she found the library. Once she got there, the girl slammed the doors shut and sank back down to her knees, muscles shaking violently. However, the sound of a grandmotherly chuckle couldn't even bring her spirits up.

"Why, hello, Katie," Miss McKinley called, sounding surprised. "Is something the matter?"

The girl didn't answer: she couldn't.

She was so sick of everything, so tired of being different, that she couldn't even look at the one person who'd accepted her.

"Miss... McKinley," Katherine stated shakily, slowly crawling back to her feet and finally turning around; when she looked up, the woman's smile was wiped clean and she stood up with a startled expression, since the albino girl had tears streaming down her cheeks. "I... I..."

"W-what's wrong?" the old woman stammered, leaving the desk when Kate's face scrunched up and she clutched the front of her skirt. "What happened?"

"The whole world knows I'm a freak!" the girl stated, trying to fight back the ache in her body. "T-the newspaper... I'm in the newspaper! He put me in a newspaper!"

"I know..." Miss McKinley stated soothingly, stopping in front of her and setting her weathered hands on the girl's shoulders. "I know, sweetheart, I read the paper every day! What you did doesn't make you a freak, it makes you a hero! And don't you ever forget it! So, you've got a little more to you than others... does that make you bad? Not at all! I've lived for sixty five years, child, and in this day and age... well, it's a rare thing to meet a girl as sweet and honest as you are."

"Huh?" Kate whimpered, slowly turning around and staring at her with dazed amethyst eyes. "What do you-?"

"Shhh, don't talk," the woman soothed, staring into her eyes with a warm smile. "Even if you believe that the whole school thinks you're weird, that doesn't mean it's true: for example, I think you're a sweetheart! Especially considering the environment you live in... Lord have Mercy. You'd have to be a very strong girl indeed to be able to smile at people while living with such a horrible woman."

That was what did it.

For the first time in a long time, Katherine couldn't keep her mask in place and began to cry: tears slowly welled up in her eyes and started trickling down her pale cheeks. The girl's face scrunched up even further and she let out an involuntary sob... then choked back another... but eventually, she couldn't hide it.

In that moment, she abruptly burst into tears.

Katie slowly clenched the front of her pleated skirt with shaking fists and tilted her head back, hiccuping and choking as the first wail escaped her lips.

"Come here, honey," the librarian soothed, spreading her arms. "There, there..."

Kate didn't even think: almost mechanically, she found herself stepping forward, willingly walking into the librarian's grandmotherly arms.

Miss McKinley rubbed her back and sighed when her shaking fists grasped and tightened onto the back of her floral-print dress.

"There, there," the woman murmured again. "Go ahead and let it all out."

"It hurts..." the albino choked, bawling like a child. "It hurts! It hurts! Everything... it just..."

She couldn't even finish.

Her words devolved into hysterical, raw-throated sobbing.

Veronica McKinley was one of the few who was aware that Katie had been alone not out of choice, but as a result of her differences: she had been completely alone... unloved, harassed... empty... it was no wonder she was crying. The woman couldn't do anything but rub Katherine's back, so that's exactly what she did. For ten minutes, she soothed the girl until she stopped crying.

Once she did, the old woman pulled away and patted her cheek before handing her a tissue box.

"Thank you," Katie sniffed, rubbing her puffy eyes and blowing her nose. "Please don't tell anyone that I cried, okay?"

"I won't, dear," the woman chuckled, planting a hand on her hip before she patted her graying curls. "Would you like a cup of hot cocoa before class?"

"That sounds nice," the albino mumbled, hiccuping again and rubbing her puffy eyes. "Thank you."

Still, somehow... there was a part of her that had gone completely numb.

Neither the librarian nor the student noticed that a familiar girl with long brown hair was peering through the door with a stunned expression.

However, five minutes later, the bell rang.

Kate instantly looked up and sighed, downing the last of her hot chocolate.

"I have to go now," she murmured, hiding her eyes with her hair. "Miss McKinley... thank you."

"You're very welcome," the old woman giggled, but just as Kate turned to go, she gasped. "Wait! Wait! I almost forgot!"

Katie turned around and waited, watching as the old woman dug around in her bag: after a moment, she pulled out a small wrapped box and hurried over, gently pressing it into the albino's hands. Kate stared at it in confusion, then looked up at the librarian.

"What's this?" she asked, blinking. "A gift?"

"Yes," the woman chuckled, giving her a wink. "I think it's a shame that you never wear make-up or do anything with your hair, especially since you're such a pretty girl. So, I took it upon myself to do a little research on your albinism in order to get you that. It won't irritate your skin, and its waterproof, so I truly believe its perfect for you. Think of me when you wear everything, eh? I'd love to help you apply it and do your hair up into pigtails, but you really do need to scoot! You'll be late if you don't rush!"

Kate nodded and gave a small, very rare smile of thanks before hurrying out the door and rushing to her locker. After stuffing the package inside, Kate ran to her first class and bolted inside just as the second bell rang.

When school started, Kate had to deal with even more stares than usual, and things became difficult since more people picked on her, more people talked about her, and more people stared.

But hey, this was typical for her school.

The only thing she could do now was deal with it.


	4. Chapter 3: Typical Bullies

**Chapter Three: Typical Bullies**

After two more classes had come and gone, Kate quickly ate her lunch and darted out of the cafeteria. The girl then sprinted to her fourth period classroom before it could start. However, when she zipped inside and discovered that she wasn't alone like she'd been expecting, she went rigid: Alan Smirnoff and his buddies were standing in front of her desk.

They sneered the moment they saw her tense.

"Hey, freak, is this your book?" Alan laughed, tossing an empty milk carton into the wastebasket and making his way over to her. "You didn't happen to spill anything on it, did you? Maybe while you were admiring your freakshow slot in the newspaper?"

Kate stared in mortification: the book Miss McKinley had given her was lying on her desk amongst a puddle of milk. Her lips twisted as she stared at the soggy tome, but she felt no need to respond to their antagonism and firmly locked her jaw.

They didn't deserve to hear her speak.

In fact, nobody at this school did.

"There you go with the quiet act again," Salem sighed, rolling his eyes. "You could at least act like you're upset."

Kate still didn't respond.

However, her lack of reaction sent Alan into action, and he gripped her shoulder. The girl's eyes popped open wide in surprise when he jerked her forward by the arm, but she let out a squeak when Mitchell stuck his sneaker out and tripped her before she could catch her balance: she hit the ground so hard that her teeth jolted, and she let out a muffled yelp when she bashed her elbow on a desk.

"Ow..." she croaked, rolling her sleeve up and looking at her scraped arm; she instantly winced since it was already turning purple around the edges. "Shit... if this doesn't stop bleeding by last period, I might have to go to a hospital and have it cauterized."

The moment she said it, all three boys began laughing at her.

She rarely allowed any form of emotion to break through her mask, so it was a rare treat for these guys to see her look upset. Kate rolled her sleeve back down and stared at the ground: she smoothed her face out once again, carefully putting her mask back on.

She would deal with the pain in silence: she had promised herself long ago that she wouldn't let herself be weak.

"You're so creepy!" Salem stated condescendingly, kicking her ankle; Kate bit her lip, squeezing her eyes shut as a flash of pain rocketed up her leg. "Whenever I think about how ugly you are, sometimes I throw up in my mouth: looking at your face makes me sick to my stomach."

"Yeah! With those creepy eyes and all that nasty white hair," Mitchel added, speaking with a thoughtful expression, "I'd have killed you if you were my daughter! I mean, you're so pale and small that you look half dead already, and your face is just... ugh. I'd probably feel sorry for your parents if they hadn't done the smart thing and killed themselves!"

Feeling her heart aching at the mentioning of her parents, Kate slowly began to crawl back to her feet... but before she could manage it, Alan purposely lifted his leg and stepped on her back. With a startled yip, Kate crumpled to the ground and clenched her teeth when her elbow throbbed again: it felt as though the blood was already seeping through the cloth... but she was used to pain.

She'd gotten enough of it over the years that she could handle it.

Feeling nothing, she smoothed her expression once again and retained her emotionless demeanor, pink eyes losing their sheen and becoming almost dead.

"You know, even some of the teachers have been saying you're creepy!" Alan laughed, folding his arms. "The least you could do is cry like a normal human being! I might be inclined to leave you alone if you just cry and beg me to stop."

When she still didn't respond, the boys stopped grinning and became irritated: after a few more jeers, they gave up and started kicking her. Kate instantly buried her face in her arms, tensing as the blows to her ribcage and legs sent agony rocketing through her muscles. She endured it for what seemed like hours... but in reality, only a few minutes had passed. She wouldn't let them see her tears for anything... she had to be strong... she had to endure this torture like every other torture she had gone through in the past.

However, as it turned out, she didn't need to.

The door flew open without warning and a beautiful girl walked in.

The student council president, Erika Montgomery.

"Huh? Alan?" the brunette asked in confusion, blinking at the boys when they froze. "What are you doing in here? You just told me that you were heading to class a bit earlier to do some last-minute studying since you have a huge history test coming up... but this is my class, and on top of that, who are those guys?"

"Um... hey, Erika," Alan chuckled nervously, "yeah, these are my friends and we, uh... were..."

"Were what?" Erika asked, looking him with a blank expression; however, before he could reply, she noticed the milk-covered book sitting on the desk and her eyes widened in surprise. Erika's gaze immediately flashed to the girl lying flat on the floor and bristled in shock; she hastily whirled around and thrust her head out the door. "Alicia, I need a bit of help! Hurry and go get a teacher from the break lounge! It has to be someone who can handle a problem without going overboard!"

A startled voice wafted in from the hallway.

"Just do it!" the brunette calmly called, glancing at the boys with fierce eyes. "Three boys are beating up a girl in here!"

"What the fuck, Erika?!" Alan hissed, kicking Kate in the shoulder. "This freak is a witch! Why are you narking on us over this?!"

"Oh, you did NOT just kick her!" the brunette scoffed, rolling up her sleeves with a threatening expression. "Okay, boys, unless you want _me_ to give you a butt-kicking, I suggest you get out of here right now!"

Alan and Erika glared at each other for a long, dangerously quiet moment.

Then...

"Let's go," Alan muttered, shoving his hands in his pockets and slinking out the door past Erika. "We can mess with the bitch later..."

"What was that, Alan?!" Erika called, sticking her head out into the hall. "Are you _asking_ me for a beating?! I kicked your ass in elementary school, and I can definitely do it again! Don't even THINK about touching her, you creep!"

_Ow_... Kate muttered silently, slowly sitting up and rubbing her sides. _I'm going to have a few bruises I'll need to keep an eye on._

"Hey, are you okay?" Erika asked, darting over to help her up; when she gripped her injured arm right on the elbow, the pale girl flinched in pain and smacked her hand before shakily climbing to her feet on her own. "Ow! Hey, why did you hit me? Are you all right?"

"Don't touch me," Kate muttered, breaking the stillness of the room with her voice. "I hate it here... I feel like I'm losing myself because of these people. They call me a witch and a monster, but they act more terrible than any creature I've ever heard of... they're the real monsters."

"Hey, are you okay?" Erika whispered, staring at her in confusion. "What are you talking about?"

"Shut up and leave me alone!" Katherine snapped, face twisting up with a serious urge to cry. "You're all the same! I... I hate everything here! I hate my home! I hate this school! I wish it would all just burn to the ground so Nathan and I can leave already!"

To keep herself from bursting into tears, she snatched her things and bolted from the room, thigh-length hair flying behind her like a cloud of silver fire. Erika watched her flee with a blank expression, not comprehending what had just happened. However, after a moment of staring at the empty doorway, she looked at her hand and twitched when she saw blood on it.

Almost immediately, her mind kicked in.

"Hey, hold on!" Erika cried, running out of the room and chasing the girl down; she finally managed to grab Kate's uninjured arm, and with a firm yank she held her back. The albino merely stood in place and refused to look at her. "Come on, don't treat me like this... I'm sorry, okay? Alan has always been a jerk, even back when he was a little kid, but I'm really not like him. Look, if you want to be left alone, that's cool... but as the student council President, I can't let an injured student go without tending to them."

"If you go away immediately afterwards... fine," Kate muttered, not meeting her eyes. "I really want to be alone right now."

Several minutes later, the pale girl was involuntarily sitting in the girl's bathroom while Erika cleaned her arm with a cotton swab.

"I don't think the bleeding was as bad as you thought," the brunette murmured, eying her scraped arm with a confused demeanor before she gently applied some gauze. "There you go... hopefully you'll be good as new by tomorrow."

"Thank you for helping me," Kate stated calmly, keeping her face blank, "but I can take it from here."

"You can stop with the act," the brunette retorted, slowly turning around and pressing her carefully dried book into her hands. "I already know it's fake... I've been watching you and your brother ever since the two of you transferred here, Kate. People are mean to you because they don't know you, and mostly because you never stand up for yourself! You never speak up or try prove them wrong! Instead of doing anything useful, you go to a new classroom after school and cry until the gates close! Girl, you need to take a stand!"

Kate's head snapped up and she stared at Erika with wide eyes, not even realizing that her mask had slipped off due to the shock coursing through her.

"Who told you about that?" the albino whispered, staring at the brunette with a stunned expression. "Who told you?!"

"Nobody told me anything," Erika irritably retorted, face pulling into a deep frown. "I have a few after-school curricular activities since I'm the Student Council Prez, remember? On top of that... my brother is the janitor, so I help him clean up the school from time to time. On your second day here, I was cleaning up Miss Kensington's classroom when you caught my attention. I swear, I've never been so shocked."

"So what?!" Katie demanded, glaring at her with angry eyes. "The rumors about me are true, so why didn't you take everyone else's side?"

"Because judging a person based on gossip is stupid, that's why," Erika retorted, looking slightly offended. "Sure, I've heard all the rumors about you from my friends, and everyone I talk to says you're creepy and dark... but the first time I ever saw you, nothing I'd heard matched what my own two eyes told me."

"What did you see?" Kate hissed. "Tell me!"

"Well, you were sitting on one of the desks by the window and reading a book," Erika stated simply, folding her arms. "Personally, I don't think you look scary at all. You're just a little different... but on the day I first saw you, I thought you were glowing. You were just that bright. I stood there for a while and watched you read, but then... all of a sudden you buried your face in your knees. It took me ten minutes to realize you were crying."

"And?" Kate demanded, amethyst eyes sharpening into frigid gemstones. "Why did you sit there and watch me cry?"

"Look, whether you realize it or not, I wanted to do something to make you stop crying," Erika retorted, looking more than a little frustrated by her hostility. "I didn't know what to do, though, especially since I didn't know you back then! I've been looking out for you and your brother ever since that day, so stop interrogating me and just... trust me a bit!"

Kate stared at her with a blank expression, but uncertainty did flit across her pale face.

For several moments, the albino merely stared at Erika with an indecisive expression. A part of her wanted to trust the girl, but another part of her didn't want to be anywhere near her: her current reputation as a witch had stemmed from a similar situation.

To her, the word 'Trust' was synonymous with 'Betrayal.'

"If you ever want to talk, here's my phone number," Erika finally sighed, handing the girl a slip of paper. "I'll be willing to listen to you, and I promise I'll stick up for you when people are being horrid, okay? We're going to get rid of all the rumors about you, I promise!"

The albino girl stood there for a long moment, opening and closing her mouth in absolute shock.

For the first time since she'd joined Ivy Ridge Academy, someone had actually said something that wasn't insulting, hostile, or extraordinarily unfriendly. She stared at the pretty brunette with a baffled expression on her face... but then she nodded and left the room with her book in hand. She wouldn't give into the urge to break down just yet: she would wait, especially since she didn't trust Erika's motives.

Even so, the rest of the day was just as horrible... so much, in fact, that when classes finally ended, the girl was almost grateful to be going home. After grabbing her things from her locker, Katie left the school and walked back to her current residence alone, since Nathan had gone home with his best friend, Seth. With good reason, too, since apparently, the Social Worker had called in and said she couldn't make it.

Toni's rages alone would be something to behold.

After making it back to the house and walking up the porch stairs, she slowly lifted her hand and gripped the doorknob, twisting it gently.

The moment she opened the front door, light poured into a pitch-black house.

Katie tiptoed through the dark hallway, trying to keep herself as silent as possible: the place smelled of beer and cigar smoke, which meant Toni was in her abusive mode again. Just as Kate was taking a cautious step around the hall corner, she accidentally stepped on a shard of broken glass and the soft crunching sound caused an avalanche of screeches to resound through the entire house.

Kate winced and wondered how the woman could have possibly heard it.

"Who the fuck is crashing around up here?" Toni shrieked, making Kate flinch. "Who broke into my house?!"

"It's just me," Kate called back, voice trembling so badly that it made her feel sick with herself. "I'm back."

It was cold inside the house, as if the sunny warmth of the afternoon had refused to enter the darkened area.

Toni's silhouette suddenly filled the doorway, blocking out the hallway light so abruptly that Katie actually let out a squeak of surprise.

The girl could see the woman's wide, bloodshot eyes even in this kind of darkness: they were two glittering green orbs full of malice and disgust. Kate froze and struggled to escape from the hatred in her foster mother's eyes, but it felt like she was drowning in darkness. It was a darkness so deep that she couldn't help but be pulled under the surface.

She could feel the hatred emanating from the woman's soul just by looking at her irises.

Kate swallowed and returned her attention to Toni, staring into those jade green pools as fear involuntarily rose up her throat.

She could never summon the courage she needed to face her foster mother.

Part of the reason was the fact that the woman had never wanted her or her brother in the first place: the government had literally forced the Sanders twins upon her household. The woman never tried to be nice; she never acted as though she cared; she always made it clear that the twins weren't wanted and gave them the cold shoulder. That, or she got drunk and used her inebriated state to vent her frustrations.

Usually by abusing Kate.

Nathan had never been hit more than once since he was strong enough and _angry_ enough to hit back.

He wouldn't hesitate to hurt Toni just as much as she hurt him.

When she took a heavy step forward, Kate took a tiny step back.

"I should have known," Toni sneered, soft lips curling in disgust. "Everything came crumbling down when you and your brother came into this house. Those disgusting eyes that look out of your mother's face... I grew up with your mother, you know: she lived about two miles away from here, and I actively hated her. She was better at everything, she always had a pack of tarot cards in her pocket, and she married a gorgeous man who treated her like a queen. I honestly should be thanking you."

_Don't say it,_ Kate pleaded silently, balling her hands into fists. _Please, Toni... don't say it again._

"After all, you were the one who killed them," the woman chuckled nastily, making the albino girl flinch. "Right, you little freak?"

Kate remained silent, hoping if she didn't speak then Toni would go away.

The woman had repeated this particular speech so many times before that the girl actually knew it by heart.

Even though it had been an accident, Kate really had killed her parents, albeit indirectly: her mother had forgotten to turn the stove off after making dinner one evening, and the house had caught fire. Nathan hadn't been home since he'd been on a sleepover, but Katherine had been quietly sleeping upstairs. Both of her parents had been killed trying to get to her.

Toni's hands were suddenly on her shoulders, forcing her against the wall.

"Are you listening to me, bitch?" she growled, looking into Kate's eyes. "Look at me when I'm talking to you!"

"Stop it, Toni," Kate whispered, shaking her head. "Stop..."

"Don't look at me with those disgusting eyes!" Toni screeched, smacking Kate in the face. "Those aren't your mother's eyes! Those aren't the eyes of the woman I grew up with! Those are your father's eyes! Those are the eyes of a nasty demon who took my best friend away from me! I hope that bastard is burning in hell! Give her back, you murderer!"

Kate recoiled away from the woman's hand and squeezed her eyes even tighter.

She wished the woman would simply leave her alone, but her words about her eyes were true.

Kate turned away, keeping her eyes shut tight so the woman wouldn't hit her again.

A jarring impact on her cheek sent pain rocketing into her skull, but the woman shoved Kate once more and began muttering under her breath.

When Toni stormed into the living room, the small-boned albino girl let out a shuddering breath of relief and pressed a hand to her burning cheek, slowly forcing herself to walk up the stairs into her room. Judging by how the blow was both stinging and aching beneath the skin, she knew that it might be just a tad bit bruised by the next morning.

It wouldn't be bad enough for a hospital visit, though, hopefully.

Throwing her bag onto the floor, Kate turned on her light and faced the mirror with uncertainty.

Her cheek was still burning unpleasantly with the impact of her foster mother's hand, but it wasn't as bad as the other times or even the other foster families. She'd definitely had worse than this... in fact, she was inclined to say that this was the best residence so far. There had been times when the twins had been beaten and starved to the point of death. Kate was simply glad that Toni was easy with her blows.

The woman knew how easy a bruise could kill her because of her condition, so at least she tried to be gentle...

Kate sighed and took off her uniform, gently hanging it up; after putting on a baggy sweater and a simple pair of jeans, she curled up on her bed and pulled out the book Miss McKinley had given her. Aside from a large stain on the front, the pages within were undamaged, for which she was extremely grateful. After a moment, she opened it and began to read, gently flipping through the pages.

She sat there for several hours, turning through the pages of her book, until the sun began to go down.

Even after that, she kept reading... continuously searching for an answer to her nightmares.

However, it wasn't until a flash of lightning lit up her room that she had a strange vision.

_Fire... fire that almost seemed to blink._

She shivered, then closed the book and set it on her bed.

After a moment, she noticed the package Miss McKinley had given her and blinked, wondering what was really inside. Tilting her head, Katherine pulled it over and unwrapped it with curious eyes, but her breath caught when she found herself staring at a three-hundred dollar hair and makeup kit for... people with albinism?

"She bought this for me with her own money?" Kate wondered aloud, looking at the contents in awe. "No way... it even has differently-toned hair extensions, a hairband, eyebrow toner, and... eyelash ink?! No way! That stuff is almost impossible to find!"

Katie stared at the kit with stunned eyes, but after a moment she sighed and smiled a little.

Slowly getting to her feet, she grabbed her old pink pajamas as well as the make-up kit and headed over to the bathroom to take a shower.

Shedding her clothes, the girl turned the water on and waited until it was warm to hop in: once she'd finished washing and conditioning her hair, Kate rinsed herself free of the soap and merely stood under the water, being extremely careful to keep it away from her gauze-covered elbow. Then she got out and wrapped a towel around her chest. Feeling refreshed, she used the blow-dryer sitting on the counter to dry her hair, being mindful to keep the setting on low so it wouldn't damage her tresses.

Then, once everything was done, she toweled herself off and pulled her pajamas on before grabbing the make-up kit.

Wiping a small circle of condensation off the mirror, she examined her bruises with a keen eye, but fortunately for her, none of them seemed to be swelling up.

Then she looked at her face.

And stared.

_Toni's right about one thing... _Kate thought sadly, touching her long silver hair as she looked in the mirror. _I look almost exactly like my mom, but I have my father's eyes... sort of._

The albino girl had the same shimmering white hair, the same pearly skin, the same overly-plump lips, and the same fragile build as her mother... but unlike the woman who had given birth to her, Kate's height didn't want to extend over five feet.

However, the biggest difference between the two of them was the shape of their eyes: her mother's eyes had been exotic and slightly upturned at the far edges, and in hue they had been a dark shade of pink. Kate's eyes were very big, round, and angled towards the ground at the edges.

They were so light in color that they seemed to reflect all forms of luminescence like mirrors... mirrors, it should be noted, that constantly shifted back and forth in hue from light pink to a silvery violet.

Shaking her head, Katherine averted her eyes and grabbed the eyelash ink, then leaned forward and began to apply it to herself. The ink by itself went for about a hundred bucks even though it wasn't waterproof and only lasted a few days.

Still, it was a necessity for any albino, because it gave off just one semblance of physical normalcy that people like her and Nathan constantly missed out on. She reminded herself to share it with him after she finished applying it.

After taking the time to fan the ink dry, the girl applied it to her lower lashes as well and sighed, repeating the fanning process.

Once that was finished, she examined herself in the mirror and blinked, feeling a little relieved: now that her eyelashes were black, like everyone else's, her appearance seemed a little less strange. Then she recalled Miss McKinley's statement about her hair and pulled on a long strand of it. Pensively, she grabbed her brush and gently parted her hair down the middle, feeling a little uncomfortable about what she was planning on doing.

It only took a few minutes to get right, and by the time she was done, Katherine's hair had been tied into pigtails that she carefully draped over her shoulders.

Since her hair was so long, however, the twin-tails actually stopped just below her hips.

After a moment of staring at her reflection, the girl set the makeup kit under the sink and buttoned up the front of her pajama shirt, heading for the bathroom door.

It wasn't until after she was already in the hallway that she spotted him out of the corner of her eye.

Turning her head just as a flash of lightning lit up his silhouette, Katherine stiffened when she saw Toni's deadbeat boyfriend, AJ, standing in the center of the hallway with his hands planted against the walls on either side of him. She instantly felt her heart rise up her throat, since he only bothered with her and Nathan when he was looking for trouble. Instantly whirling around, the girl bolted for her bedroom, but he chased after her: before she could slam the door, he put his foot inside it and started reaching for her.

"Stop!" Kate cried, face screwing up with fright when he gripped the front of her shirt. "Hey! Let go of me!"

"Shut up!" he snarled, jerking on the front of her shirt. "I heard you got in trouble today, so Toni definitely won't care if I have a bit of fun."

When the first three buttons popped off her shirt, her eyes widened and she did the unthinkable.

She fought back.

Lunging at him with an angry shriek, she clawed his face and attempted to slam the door, but he merely kicked it open and violently shoved her to the ground. Hulking above her, he glared down in rage with bloodshot eyes.

"You ever try something like that again," he hissed, bending down and clutching her shirt. "I'll fucking kill you, bitch."

With that, he slapped her in the face and walked out, leaving behind a shivering girl who merely curled up into a little ball and held herself.

Kate closed her eyes and fought back tears: she wanted things to go back to the way they used to be, before her mother and father had died... before Emily had died, too... but time and fate were cruel realities, and she was all alone in a hostile world. She had given up hope on being loved by other people long ago... she had given up on a future where life could possibly be happy... she had turned her back on the conniving faces of humanity, for they had done nothing but hurt her. She had promised herself not to trust anyone, ever again.

Because, after all... who could ever love a freak?


	5. Chapter 4: Wakeful Premonition

**Chapter Four: Wakeful Premonition **

__There was no darkness this time... there wasn't a cellar with the scent of blood... there wasn't even an abyss full of stars.__

_However, compared to where she was right now, any of those would have been more preferable._

_Katherine was somehow standing frozen with terror on top of an enormous tower, a structure that had been built so high that it could have put both of the fallen World Trade Centers to shame: below her was a chasm of nearly six thousand stories worth of empty air, and above her was a sky that was frothing with volcanic ash. The wind was tearing at her old nightgown, and her long hair was flying in every direction. She couldn't move... if she moved, the burning eye that was flicking around in the distance would see her._

_It would find her again._

_"Somebody..." Kate whimpered, fighting to keep its evil heat off of her by remaining still. "Help me..."_

_The moment she said it, a flash of light seared into her retinas and a two-tailed comet sailed overhead._

_The comet was white and red, but she could sense that it was emanating an ancient evil._

_However, at the same time... it was flickering with such dark brilliance that she had trouble tearing her eyes away from it. Blazing through the dark sky and shredding the volcanic clouds as it passed, the two-tailed comet launched itself straight for a distant moon that looked __much__ larger than the one she was used to seeing. In a fiery radiance, it slammed into the surface... but shockingly, there was no sound: nothing but silence followed the impact and not even a single stone on the moon's surface budged._

_It was as if the comet itself were passing through the celestial __object__ the way light passes through glass._

_Kate tried to reach out and touch the ghostly flames licking from the comet's tail, but the moment she moved, the eye flicked in her direction and her silver hair started billowing around much more slowly. Actually, everything moved more slowly... even the chilling wind, which had somehow become scorching hot. Katie stood there with horrified eyes, watching as the ball of fire seemed to loom closer: it was as if the tower she was standing on had started zooming in on it._

_"NO!" Kate screeched, lifting her hand and slowly whirling around; every step from her bare feet seemed to take an eternity, and she started crying as she ran across the tower. "HELP! SOMEONE, HELP ME!"_

_However, there wasn't a way to get off the structure: she was trapped at the top of it._

_When she collapsed to her knees, a glowing red mark began to snake around her torso from her back, trickling over her pearly skin like blood. The red made its way down her arms and wrists, then around her throat, burning as it went. The girl didn't notice how much danger she was in until she looked down at herself: the eye's gaze had latched onto a spot between her ribs, where a black sword had been buried in her flesh. The redness swirled into the gashes on her arms, neck, and collarbone._

_Then her skin began to peel and the pink flesh underneath became hot._

_"OOWWWW! HELP ME!" Kate cried, lifting her arms to the stars above for assistance. "PLEASE! SOMEONE!"_

_No one would come to save her, though... and she realized with horror that she was completely alone: all of these pale and unforgiving stars didn't care about her existence. The girl's vision tunneled as the red glow leaked into her eyes, blurring her sight into colors that resembled a shimmering gasoline rainbow. Swirling round and round in that pool of pain was a screaming girl who would die completely alone... alone, in pain, and all but forgotten by the world. Just like Emily... just like her parents._

_"Help..." she whimpered, closing her eyes as her ears filled with a rushing noise. "Someone, please! Help me!"_

_"Who would want to help you?" her brother whispered, appearing beside her with a flash. "Isn't it your fault that our sister died? Isn't it your fault that our parents burned to their deaths? Everyone's always saving you, Kate, but when someone calls for help, you cower like a little rabbit. You've caused the death of everyone I've ever loved, so why would anybody come to save you? You're a coward... and that's why you'll die alone. And nobody will care."_

_"STOP IT!" the girl wailed, choking as the red started pouring down her throat. "NATHAN, HELP ME!"_

_Suddenly, a screeching buzz echoed within her head, blurring the image of her brother's sneer._

_She desperately struggled to breathe, stretching out her hand to his laughing silhouette as her vision began to disintegrate._

"-anders?" a voice called.

_"Nate, please!" Kate wailed, letting out a cry when her world faded and the buzzing took over her senses. "Help me!"_

"Miss Sanders, wake up!" somebody angrily shouted, snapping the small girl out of her nightmare. Kate's head instantly snapped up and she tensed, violet eyes glittering as she faced her teacher's glare. "Honestly, how many times do I have to tell you that there is no sleeping in my class?"

"I'm sorry... I finished the work you handed out, so I wanted to rest my eyes for a bit," the albino stoically retorted, rubbing her eyes and sighing when her classmates started sniggering. "I never meant to fall asleep."

"Regardless of your _intentions,_ you cannot sleep in class!" Mrs. Kingsford rapped out, catching her attention. "Are we clear?"

"Of course," Kate murmured, wishing she could use her bangs to hide her eyes. "I'm sorry."

"Very well," Mrs. Kingsford sighed, straightening up and pointing to the board imperiously. "Still, since you've finished the work I handed out, I'm guessing you can tell the class the answer to my question. After all, if you actually did the work, you _should_ know the answer to it."

The girl's half-lidded eyes darted over the problem; then, after flipping through her notebook, Katherine found her finished work and quickly read the answer.

She shot a quick glance at the teacher after she was done, but the woman appeared far from satisfied.

Mrs. Kingsford glared at her for a long moment, almost as if she thought the girl had copied the work from someone else. Then she swept away, rapping her ruler on tables to wake students up. Kate instantly sank into her chair with a soft sigh of relief: she hated being the center of attention, and personally, her teacher was acting a little ridiculous since she was practically the only person in class who really ever bothered to do the homework. Luckily, there were only ten more minutes until the end of the period.

When the bell finally rang, the whole class erupted into a flurry of action.

Kate allowed herself to be pulled along by the stream of students to the cafeteria, listening to the swirl of gossip and the loud teasing with a dazed expression. Ever since the day the newspaper article about the man she'd saved had spread, Katherine had been having more problems than ever before: people had been so mean that she'd actually considered running away and leaving it all behind.

Plus, she was still feeling totally off center since the nightmares were making it impossible for her to sleep normally, and she couldn't shake off the feeling that something horrible was going to happen soon.

She didn't know why, of course, but the feeling in her gut was still growing stronger.

When somebody unexpectedly elbowed her in the side and smashed her against a locker, she let out a wheeze of pain that was lost in the chatter.

Kate squeezed her violet eyes shut as pain rocketed throughout her already-bruised sides, but when the pain had faded enough for her to stand upright, the albino girl continued on her way.

After she made it to the cafeteria, she quickly joined the line and grabbed nothing but a carton of juice since she was eager to remove herself from the jostling crowd. She found it exceedingly intimidating to be surrounded by so many people: crowds had always made her uncomfortable because of how much she stood out thanks to her looks.

Kate hastily headed for the doors, but the bane of her existence managed to stop her before she got there.

"Look who it is!" Alan sneered, grabbing her shoulder and spinning her around. "The Little Witch decided to join us for lunch! And look here! It seems she decided to go for a new look!"

"How'd she make her eyelashes dark like that?" Salem wondered, quirking an eyebrow as he examined her face. "And seriously, what the hell is up with her hair? Pigtails? Really? I haven't seen those on a girl since kindergarten!"

Kate scowled before she could stop herself, but she quickly masked her irritation.

Truth be told, she had gotten up earlier than usual just to try putting on just a little bit of make-up and switching up her hairstyle. She had even tied her favorite black ribbon onto the hairband that Miss McKinley had given her, but since it had been nearly impossible to do anything with her Asian-style square-cut bangs, she'd simply used the hairpiece to pin them back and out of sight. The extensions had come in handy for the false side-bangs she was sporting. The librarian had been over the moon when she'd walked in that morning all dolled up for once.

In fact, she was probably still grinning, even now.

However, that alone was why the teasing irritated her for once.

"Um, can I help you?" Kate asked in a stoic voice, struggling to keep her grumpy emotions hidden. "I'd really like to use the door."

"Actually, for once, you really can!" Alan snorted with a grin, smashing his hand against the wall beside her head and leaning close to her face. "We heard something really interesting yesterday. Is it true that your brother is dating Erika Montgomery?"

Kate stared at him for a full ten seconds, not comprehending the question.

"What did you just say?" Kate asked, blinking in shock for several moments. "Did you just ask me if Nathaniel is dating the Student Council President?"

"Well, obviously, since someone saw the two of them making out yesterday," Salem scoffed, sneering at her in disgust. "Sheesh, I guess even your own brother must hate you if he won't even tell you about the girls he's fooled around with."

"We just never thought Erika would be one of them," Mitchell groused. "Who would have thought she'd kiss such a nasty freak?"

Kate flinched and looked down at the ground, violet eyes going blank in disbelief: she swallowed as the events from the previous week came back to her.

She'd definitely seen her brother holding hands with a brunette, and Erika _was_ the only girl in their school who had waist-length brown hair... but did that really mean the two of them were dating each other?

It was pretty unbelievable... but then again, so was the fact that Nate had smiled.

"You're... mistaken," Kate stated in an emotionless drawl, struggling to retain her composure when she realized that everybody around them was listening: Erika was one of the most well-liked girls in the entire school, so someone as 'lowly' as her brother could definitely not have been dating her. "I don't really know who Nathaniel likes, and he's never told me if he has a girlfriend... but he definitely wouldn't fool around with more than one person, if with anybody at all. He's not that kind of guy, so I'd appreciate it if you'd stop making assumptions about him."

"Erika wouldn't even touch an ugly freak like your brother, let alone kiss him!" Mitchell scoffed, blocking her path when she turned to walk away. "He probably forced himself on her! You'd better tell your bro to stay away from Erika, otherwise we might hurt him."

"Wow! Please, I implore you, go ahead and try it!" Kate snorted, startling everyone by letting out a genuine laugh. "You'll end up losing a few teeth, though, because my brother is the complete opposite of me when it comes to dealing with people. Unlike me, he _will not _hesitate to hurt you! I honestly wouldn't recommend trying to puff your chest out in front of him, since the last person who tried to do something _that_ stupid ended up in the hospital with a busted ribcage and a fractured jaw."

When Alan's mouth fell open in surprise, Kate gave him a coy salute and tried to walk around Mitchell.

However, she had only taken two steps when the boy suddenly shoved her and she went stumbling; just when she thought she would crash face-first into the door, it opened wide and she smacked into a muscular body instead. The collision knocked her flat on her backside, and she rubbed her aching nose before glancing up at the person she'd crashed into. As her eyes traveled up from his waist, she became progressively alarmed until she found herself staring at the face of a lion-like boy.

However, she twitched when she realized she was looking at a student who'd recently started attending her class.

Daniel Brock was the last person Kate wanted to bump into like this, especially after everything she'd heard about him through the rumor vine; he was famous all over New York City for bludgeoning a teacher half to death. It had been all over the news a few months ago, and he'd even been put through a trial as a result, but he had been declared completely innocent once it had become known that Daniel's teacher had attempted to rape his crippled mother when she'd gone to the bathroom during a parent teacher conference.

However, it was the first time she'd really seen him clearly, because even though he sat right behind her in her last-hour class, she'd been too scared to try looking at him.

The first thing she'd noticed about him was his incredible size... the top of her head only came up to the beginnings of his lower chest. The next thing she saw were his eyes: they were a startling shade of green, but incredibly unique and unlike anything she'd ever seen before. His chiseled face was hard, his slanted eyes were narrowed, his square jaw was clenched, and his shoulder-length black hair was more of a wild mane than anything else. Kate also noticed that there were hardly any places on his face that hadn't been skewered by a piercing: from the cartilage in his ears to the bone on his chin, silver and gold gleamed on his face like a macabre version of connect-the-dots... there were even two rows of piercings above his eyebrows.

He looked like a gigantic Indian with an odd biker fetish.

The girl's eyes slid down to her juice, which he was holding between three of his fingers.

He could probably wrap both of his hands around her waist and have a ton of finger room left over.

"Daniel," Mitchell stuttered, face going extremely pale. "Hey, man, what's up?"

The dark-skinned youth stepped back and watched as the albino girl shakily stood up, straightening her blazer and dusting her knee-length skirt off.

"What's going on here?" Daniel demanded in a low voice, lifting his hand in an attempt to dust off Kate's shoulder; the girl immediately flinched away from his arm and turned her face to the side out of instinct. The giant's green eyes narrowed in suspicion when he noticed that she was shivering violently. "Okay... I really don't like what I'm seeing. What's going on?"

Alan and his friends stumbled over their words as they tried to come up with a good explanation.

"Well, I dunno if you heard the rumors since you're new and all, but this weird-looking chick is a witch! No joke!" Alan finally spluttered, folding his arms in a nervous manner. "Even the news knows it! Since she sees the future, she can put curses on people that change their lives for the worse! On top of that, her brother forced himself on my friend, Erika... we thought we should send him a message, that's all it was!"

Kate twitched and gawked at them with huge eyes.

"That's not true at all!" the girl squeaked, flailing her arms with a frantic expression. "I-I'm not a witch, and Nate isn't that kind of guy! And just because some whacko said I accidentally saved him from getting flattened by a bus, it doesn't mean I'm a witch! Stop lying and leave me alone already!"

Daniel merely looked at her with an impassive expression that made her entire body prickle.

He could honestly send her flying with one punch if he chose to do so: he was that big compared to her... but for some reason, she was more terrified by the look in his eyes than his fists at the moment. He was staring at her with an intense mixture of curiosity, suspicion, and annoyance... but the weirdest part was that he wasn't sneering at her, and she had a weird feeling that he was on her side rather than theirs.

"I'm betting your 'friend' doesn't need someone like you to fight her battles," Daniel finally grunted, glancing at Alan with a slight glare. "You handled the situation wrong in two ways. First of all, you went for the guy's sister even though she obviously had no role in whatever transpired between her brother and your friend. Second of all, if this Erika girl was so upset about the pipsqueak's bro lip-locking with her, why the hell is she sitting on his lap and kissing him out in the hallway? He's the only male albino in school, and she's the student council President, right? If that's the case, I'd say _she's_ forcing herself on _him_!"

"Huh?!" Kate choked, eyes widening in total shock. "Nate is doing what?!"

"He's snogging the class Pres," the giant retorted, cocking an eyebrow when her knees buckled and she sank to the ground. "Like, right now."

"This is unbelievable," Alan hissed, clenching his fists in rage. "I can't believe that bitch... now it all makes sense."

"Shut up and scat," Daniel growled, emerald eyes flashing. "You're pissing me off."

The boys obeyed in an instant, backing away from the cafeteria doors and heading to their regular table the second he gave the command. When the boy turned his glare on Kate, the small girl flinched and looked at the ground with both of her shoulders hunched and her knees shaking violently. She jumped when he unexpectedly bent over and held out a huge hand: for several moments, she merely stared at it.

"It's just a hand," he muttered, lips twisting in annoyance. "Take it already."

"Uh... thanks," Kate whispered, purposely avoiding his gaze. "You really shouldn't come anywhere me, though... people will start to avoid you like the plague."

Daniel snorted and stared at her with furrowed brows.

"I do what I want, regardless of what people think," the giant muttered, straightening his tie and lumbering off without another word. "Catch ya later, Squirt."

When he shoved his enormous hands deep in his pockets and made for the area where food was being handed out, Kate's heart fluttered and her cheeks felt warm for no reason whatsoever. When her ears began to burn, she turned and bolted out of the cafeteria. A quick glance up and down the hallway confirmed that she was alone, which made her sigh in relief.

Feeling edgy, Kate quietly began to tiptoe toward the hall that led to her next class.

However, the albino came to a stop when she rounded the corner and came face to face with an unfamiliar hallway.

Her eyes slowly widened and her entire body froze: this didn't even look like it was a part of her school.

All of the light bulbs in the ceiling were broken and the rest were flickering weakly: it looked as though the hall had been completely destroyed.

Or rather... as though some sort of bomb had gone off.

"W-what the hell happened here?" Kate whispered, staring at the decimated hallway in shock. "Oh, my God... M-Miss McKinley! Help! Someone!"

Her voice couldn't even rise above a squeak: all of the windows in the corridor had been blown in somehow, and all of the glass resting on the classroom entrances were either cracked or broken. Doors were lying ajar or completely unhinged all over the place; huge holes lined the ceiling and dotted the stretch of the floor, and enormous piles of debris had coated the ground in several places. There were even a few chunks of concrete lying in various areas.

Just beyond the hall, however, nine hooded figures slowly came into view and the girl froze with a startled gasp: they slowly glided across the ground and moved towards her in slow motion, tattered black robes flowing weightlessly around their shadowed forms. They looked like messengers of death, or rather, like those freakish monsters from the Harry Potter preview she'd seen the other day. What were they called... dementors?

But dementors weren't real, and neither was Harry Potter, so what the hell _were_ those things?!

The pale girl twitched when the hallway and the figures started rippling like a mirage. The next time she blinked, the school had unexpectedly fixed itself and returned to normal with no warning whatsoever. The girl's violet eyes widened even further and she frantically rubbed them before staring at the now-inviting classroom doors in disbelief.

The hooded figures were gone.

_No... it can't be,_ Kate silently told herself, heart speeding up with fear. _Nothing bad could happen at school, right?_

She didn't know... nor did she want to.

But one thing was for certain: something terrible was going to happen soon, and she had no doubt that it was going to happen to her.

Frantically trying to pretend that she hadn't seen what she'd seen, the small girl whirled around and bolted towards her classroom. She skidded around a corner and sprinted past a few lingering students, but when she finally made it to her own hallway, the girl slid to a stop and her eyes went wide.

Alan and his cronies were standing in front of the door, obviously waiting for her to come running for the classroom. It was so predictable that she should have been expecting it: she was rarely late since she hated being scolded by the teacher. Mr. Kenton loved every opportunity he got to jump down her throat, and being late was his only chance since she was extremely careful about it.

"There she is!" Salem cried, spotting her and pointing down the hall. "She's right there!"

"What is it this time?! Just leave me alone already!" Kate wailed, whipping around and bolting in the opposite direction. "Stop chasing me! Go away!"

However, she still heard shouts behind her, and a hasty glance over her shoulder awarded the girl with the sight of three boys frantically chasing after her. Cruel grins spread across their faces and they let out wild catcalls when she squealed in alarm: she didn't know where the sound had come from, but being chased had caused the shriek to erupt from her mouth. Kate flew towards the end of the hall as students who were waiting for the third bell to ring poked their heads out of the classroom doors.

Several laughs accompanied her passing, for they all knew that this was a fairly uncommon sight.

As she was darting around the corner, Kate slipped on the freshly-mopped floor and went sliding into the wall. Once she'd gotten her senses back, the girl hastily shook herself off and scrabbled to her feet, ducking under a textbook as she went. When she caught sight of the principle's office, the girl began to sprint as fast as she could go.

However, when Alan ran around the corner with a huge history book in his hands, her heart skipped a beat.

_I'm going too fast to stop!_ Kate mentally wailed, covering her head; she let out a yelp when the textbook collided with her right cheek, losing her balance only a second before she smacked into the bully's chest. The two of them went sliding across the tiles before smacking into the lockers: when Kate attempted to get back up, however, Alan rolled on top of her and pinned her down by straddling her waist. When she tried to hit him, he gripped her wrists and pinned them down as well.

"Got you," he sneered, panting and grinning at her. "Now, what should I do with you? I didn't think that far ahead."

"G-g-g-get off me..." Kate stuttered, face contorting as she struggled to lift her arms. "Ow! Get off! Go away!"

"Nah, I'm too comfortable sitting right here," Alan groaned, closing his eyes and trying to catch his breath; several students started laughing hysterically when he made a mockery of being out of breath and using her as a chair. "Sheesh... your belly is really soft! You'd make a nice chair, Silverlocks! I should do this more often!"

"Ow! Stop it! You're hurting me!" Kate snapped, squeezing her eyes shut as the bones in her ribcage popped. "Ow! Ow! G-get off me, please! You're-OUCH!-too heavy!"

"Get off my sister right now," a cold voice stated, making everybody freeze like a marble statue; Alan's expression twitched and he looked more than a little spooked. "What would you have said if a teacher had caught you doing this instead of me? With the right explanation, Kate could get you charged with attempted rape and have you expelled."

"Oh, shit," Alan muttered, looking up at Nathan in surprise. "Are you serious?"

"Yeah," the albino boy retorted, shooting his twin sister a glare that made her wince, "so don't provoke her like this."

Kate didn't return her brother's gaze when he walked away without another word: in the end, he was more worried about the boy who was hurting her.

When the third bell finally rang, everybody fled into their classrooms and Alan got of off her stomach with a snicker before swaggering away with his pals. Kate sat up and clutched her bruising wrists, face burning with mortification: she wanted to cry, but she was too proud. Slowly getting to her feet, the girl grabbed her fallen backpack and made her way into class. She didn't notice that Erika Montgomery was watching her from a distant hallway corner. Nor did she notice that the sky outside was slowly darkening with clouds that seemed to suck the light right out of the air...

Clouds that seemed to be more than just the premis of a storm.

Katherine Sanders didn't even know that the day she'd been fearing for so long had finally arrived.


	6. Chapter 5: Darkness Begins to Fall

**Chapter Five: Darkness Begins to Fall**

_The nightmare was different this time._

_There was no moldy abyss... there was no water falling into a puddle... there was no coppery scent filling the air... there wasn't even a horrible tower... there was only an endless black space that stretched on forever in front of her. Unable to witness what was in front of her __a__nd not knowing what her next step would bring... yes, normally it would have been frightening, but somehow it was different. This time... she found the darkness to be almost... comforting. A dim light appeared at the end of the tunnel and her gaze lifted in time to see nine silhouettes appear._

_Why was the light there?_

_Who was standing in it?_

_One step after another, Katherine began walking towards the silhouettes. It all felt so familiar, almost as though she'd done this a million times before. _

_Maybe she had, but if so, she couldn't remember __it__. _

_Step by step, she drew closer to the nine shadows... shadows which soon became the outlines of several different people of varying size. After a few more steps, she blinked since the group of teenage boys and men were facing away from her. __However, one of them in particular caught her attention. As Kate drew closer, this man's striking details became clearer: he had long blonde hair... and it had a shiny, almost metallic sheen to it. __She didn't know why, but the sight of this man frightened her._

_"Who... are you?" Katherine called, looking at the beings in front of her. "Hello?"_

_The blonde turned his head slightly at the sound of her voice._

_Kate twitched when she spotted his ear: it was sharp... and long._

_"T-?" he asked, speaking in a distorted voice that she couldn't quite make out._

_"Is something wrong?" a dark-haired silhouette with broad shoulders asked; once again, she couldn't quite identify the tone. "Are you all right, L-?"_

_Kate twisted her head when the name distorted and seemed to vanish after the first syllable._

_"No, A-" the blonde man stated in an almost weary tone. "T'was but an illusion of the mind."_

_The albino girl lifted a hand and opened her mouth to shout at them again._

_She didn't have a chance._

_Before she could blink, she was suddenly standing on a beach._

_Whipping around with a gasp, she was startled to realize that the figures were gone: in the blonde man's place was her twin brother. Nathaniel was facing the ocean, wearing his school uniform and seeming to be at ease for the first time in a while. All around them, the beautiful scenery of a white-sands island was prominent... even the water was beautiful. __It was such a clear tropical blue that Kate felt her breath being taken away._

_"Nathan!" she called, waving her hand with large eyes. "Over here! Where are we?!"_

_She paused when her brother mimicked the blonde man's movements and slightly turned his head, almost as if he were trying to hear something. __But unlike the blonde, he actually turned around completely and looked directly at her._

_Then, with a soft smile, he held out his hand. _

_Kate's heart flew up her throat and time froze._

_Her brother... he was smiling at her._

_He was holding out his hand._

_Feeling her eyes shining with tears, the girl let out a sob and took a single step forward, planning on tackling him to the ground in a bear hug... but then she noticed the water and glanced down, smile fading into a confused frown. The tide was going out at a rapid pace... and when she glanced up, she saw an enormous wave gathering in the distance behind her brother. Eyes widening, the girl opened her mouth to scream his name, but nothing came out. _

_The wave loomed higher._

_In an instant, she was running at top speed with her own hand held out, long hair flying and school skirt billowing as her feet kicked up the sand. __Just before she grabbed him, the world disappeared and she fell through the air before landing in a dark place devoid of light._

_In front of her stood a girl who was crying with shaking shoulders._

_There was a sharp object dangling from the girl's hand... an object that was coated in dark liquid. The fluid was dripping from the tip into a puddle beside her shoes, and beyond the girl's form was a giant mound of some sort: Kate couldn't make out what it was... but it positively reeked of blood_

_"Who's there?!" Kate called, looking at the girl's auburn hair with large violet eyes. "Who are you?!"_

_When the distant girl finally turned around and their gazes met, a pair of glowing neon yellow eyes met her pale pink ones. __The person standing in front of Kate was completely identical to her, aside from the frightening eye color and fiery hair._

_Katherine's doppelganger dropped the object and lifted her small hands with shaking muscles, staring at her face with a blank expression. She started walking, one step after the other, towards the real Kate with shaking muscles: the albino stood frozen until her doppelganger touched her arm._

_When the crying, glowing-eyed version of her was sucked inside her body without even a sound to mark her vanishing, a vision overtook her mind. She saw herself splitting an enormous screeching dragon-like monstrosity in half with a silver sword._

_"You are whole, Daughter of Ainur..." a familiar voice whispered. "Take up arms and fight."_

_The moment the word 'fight' was uttered, the darkness shattered and a huge eagle -_

"NO!" Kate gasped, head instantly flying off her desk. "No! Leave me alone! I won't!"

The girl's outburst caused everybody in her class to jump and stare at her in confusion, but she wasn't aware of that: the girl was too busy trying to catch her breath to notice all the odd looks. Ever since lunchtime, the feeling of danger had grown to the point of crushing her stomach into a little ball.

"Miss Sanders," Mr. Ross stated calmly, walking over to her desk, "is there a reason you're disturbing my class?"

"The bird," Kate babbled, shaking her head to wake herself up. "The dragon... it's all coming... the... the school will..."

"Er, you must have fallen asleep and started dreaming," the man sighed in dismay. "Try to stay awake in class, okay?"

"Huh?" Kate asked, looking up with dazed eyes when the snickers rose up around her. "Oh... class... um, yes, sir, I'll do my best... I'm sorry."

"It's fine," Mr. Ross soothed, patting her head. "I know how rough your living situation is thanks to a certain Miss McKinley, so I'll let this one slide."

However, when the man went back to teaching his class, Kate dragged her backpack open and rummaged around for the book she'd been given.

"What are doing, weirdo?" Tiffany sneered, watching her with observant blue eyes. "You're acting even crazier than usual."

"Shut up, Tiffany," Kate stated seriously, not even paying attention to how the blonde stiffened; after a moment, a flash of lightning caught her attention and she glanced out the window to see that it had turned an odd shade of greenish gray. "Something's not right..."

"Uh, duh," the girl snapped, scowling at her with an angry expression. "I'd have to say it's probably you! Creep!"

Kate didn't respond and merely stared out the window with a confused expression: the clouds were flickering like an old movie... and even as she watched, they seemed to grow even darker somehow. After a moment of examining the frothing clouds, the girl flipped the book open and started scanning the pages; she couldn't wait any longer... she had to find out if the book was truly tied to her dreams.

The feeling of danger had become almost unbearable.

She spent an entire ten minutes skimming through sketches of more odd-looking monsters and creatures that seemed rather disgusting, but just when she figured there might not actually be a connection between the book and her nightmares, she came to a page that held a drawn image of nine hooded figures holding crooked black swords.

Kate's eyes widened and her body jolted with the shock that went through her, catching Tiffany's attention: the blonde stared at her with a lifted brow.

"Something wrong, witch girl?" Alexa sarcastically asked, batting her dark lashes with an expression mock concern. "Why'd you jump like that?"

Kate ignored her and leaned forward, examining the names of the monsters that had been sketched onto the pages.

"Naz... gul?" the albino wondered after a moment, lifting her head and blinking in confusion. "What the hell is a Nazgul?"

"How the hell should we know?" Brittany asked, planting her chin on her hands and letting out a sigh, red hair disheveled. "Seriously, shut up, freak. Nobody wants to hear you talk."

Tiffany's blue eyes flicked to stare at the page, but her nose wrinkled in disgust when she saw the sketch. Daniel, however, surprised all three of them by lifting his head with a skeptical expression.

"I didn't think you'd be a Lord of the Rings fan," he grunted, staring at the white-haired girl in confusion; Kate instantly whirled around. "You said Nazgul, right...? That's what those evil hooded things that stabbed Frodo in the first movie were called... right?"

"I wouldn't know, since I've never seen the movies," Kate stated seriously, gazing at him with unblinking eyes. "What are they about?"

"Well, I've only seen the first one, so I can't tell ya everything," Daniel sighed, putting his head down again, "but from what I remember, it's about a group of different people who band together in an effort to destroy an evil ring that this badass eye-monster wants. I think its name is Saurent or something."

Kate's eyes slowly widened and she whirled around with a terrified expression, not believing what she'd just heard.

"T-that movie wasn't based on a true story, r-right?" Kate squeaked, voice coming out so shaken that everyone stared at her. "It wasn't real, right?!"

"Did you just ask if Lord of the Rings was based on a true story?" Daniel snorted, lifting his head again and looking at her with an unamused expression. "Sorry, but are you joking? Or are you seriously that stupid?"

"Well, excuse me for not knowing anything about a movie I've never seen," Kate huffed, waving him off. "Not my fault."

She didn't even notice the usual snickers and whispers that erupted: she read until the bell rang, then put her book away and stared out the window, wondering about the odd-looking sky.

Still, when everybody started gathering their things, Kate was going to do so as well, but for the very first time in her memory... she was actually called out by Mr. Ross when he walked back into the room. Everyone was surprised, since she normally never got in trouble during last hour.

"Kate, I'd like you to wait right here," Mr. Ross called after he walked into the room, pushing his glasses up his nose. "Whatever you do, don't leave school grounds: supposedly, there's an incident taking place outside right now concerning your privacy."

"Huh?" the albino girl stammered, staring at the desk with an expression of startled dismay: everyone who'd been on their way out remained in the hallway with expressions of curiosity and excitement. She knew that whatever was about to go down would most likely be spread around the school if it was interesting... and that seriously made her feel sick to her stomach. She didn't want anymore attention. "This is perfect. Geez."

After a few moments of staring at her desk, Erika walked over and tapped her shoulder.

"Hey, Katie?" the brunette asked, shouldering her bag. "Do you mind if I take a seat by you? I'm waiting for someone to pick me up today, and... well, I kinda want to talk to you about something."

"Sure, whatever," Kate mumbled inaudibly, shaking her head when the girl sat down beside her; after a few moments of silence, the albino looked out the window... but soon after she did so, she felt another poke coming from behind. "Er, class is over, you know..."

"Oi, you could at least look at me when you're responding," Daniel grunted, sounding a little irritable; when Kate slowly turned around, she found herself staring straight into a set of fierce green eyes. Her pale cheeks instantly felt warm and her stomach flipped in an unfamiliar manner, so she swallowed to hide her unease and took a deep breath to calm herself. "Why do you let everyone bully you? I haven't seen you do a single thing to stop them, let alone speak up about it."

"I tried to make them stop harassing me in the beginning," Kate calmly explained, turning back around, "but I quit after I ended up in the emergency room over it a few months ago. Most of the guys in this school are a lot stronger than me, and I'm dangerously frail... catch my drift?"

For several moments, there was nothing but silence... then a scrape met her ears and she glanced over her shoulder to see Daniel heading for the doors with a rigid posture. Several students parted and let him through, but since he didn't look back, Kate folded her hands and let out a sigh.

For several unpleasant moments, she waited for Mr. Ross to come back with an unhappy expression. A flash of lightning illuminated the classroom windows as she sat there, making her feel even more grim than usual.

"You know?" Erika stated softly, making Kate wince. "I wanted to tell you something, officially, but... now I'm not sure if it's the right time."

"Just say whatever you need to and be done with it," Kate sighed, staring at her small white hands. "Please."

"Well, okay," the brunette sighed, looking at her with solemn blue eyes. "It's about Nathan."

Kate's face screwed up a little and she had to bite her tongue.

"Erika... you know, I... I'm actually kind of jealous of you," Kate finally muttered; even though she was completely calm, her heart was beating a mile a minute; Erika's ocean blue eyes flickered with uncertainty when the younger girl looked up at her with a bitter smile. "Nate never smiles at me because he thinks I'm a witch, too. Even though we're twins, he got lucky and never had to deal with any of the dreams or premonitions that I do. Every day, he says mean things, and he acts like I'm someone who... who..."

Erika watched as the girl stopped talking, observing how her face screwed up; after a moment, she closed her eyes and her full lips tightened. Her chest heaved and she trembled with the force of restraining her tears, but not a single sound escaped her lips; the brunette slowly stared at the floor when the pale girl finally turned away.

"He doesn't hate you," Erika whispered, ignoring how the albino looked at her in confusion in favor of staring at the desk. "Kate, your brother doesn't hate you... I promised him I would never tell anyone, especially you, but... because I don't think he knows how deeply he's been hurting you, I'm going to break that promise. Right now."

Kate stared.

"What do you mean?" she stated in a quiet tone, keeping an eye on the other students to make sure they couldn't hear. "And before you reply, please keep in mind that we aren't alone."

"Look, I told you that I've been watching you ever since you transferred to our school, right?" Erika sighed, looking at her with a tired expression. "Truth be told... that's inaccurate. About two weeks before I actually saw you in that classroom, I met Nathaniel for the very first time... and it changed my life forever."

"What?" Kate demanded, staring at her without blinking. "How could meeting _him_ change your life?"

"I don't know how to explain it," Erika murmured, shaking her head. "I... I met Nate only nine days after my mother and father passed away in a car accident... it's why I'm even attending this school, you know: after they passed, there was nobody who could pay my previous school's tuition, so the government put me in here. Anyway, I was still numb over how everything had happened, so I wasn't exactly in a good state of mind. I met him on the bridge overlooking the East River... but... if I'm going to be honest with you... your brother was... going to jump off and kill himself."

Kate's heart almost stopped beating as a result of the ice that swept throughout her chest

"He... he wouldn't..." she stammered, hugging herself with stricken eyes; her pupils widened and practically obscured her irises with horror. "He... would never!"

The fact that Nathan had been on the same bridge, pondering the very same thing she had attempted to do countless other times, truly made her wonder if they still had the telepathic bond they'd shared as infants.

As babies, even when they'd sneezed, they'd done it at the same time.

"If I hadn't grabbed the back of his shirt and dragged him off the edge of the railing, he would have jumped," Erika whispered, closing her eyes. "I honestly hadn't known who he was when I did it... I just... didn't really want to see another death so soon, that's all. I hadn't even seen his face, or what his hair looked like... but the moment he turned around and looked at me, my breath was literally taken for the first time in my life. I honestly thought I was looking at an angel, Kate... his hair was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen, and his eyes were like... like... um, like that pinkish purple stone you sometimes see on necklaces. I don't know what it's called, but it's really pretty to look at."

"Amethyst?" the albino hesitantly suggested. "That's the only purple stone I can think of..."

"Yeah, I think so..." Erika confirmed, nodding a few times. "His eyes were so sad, though... I'd never seen anything like them before. It looked as though he had been crying, but when I tried to scold him for being stupid... well, for the first time in my whole life, someone I didn't know actually hugged me and started crying. He scared me... he really scared me, Kate: I wanted to make him let go, but I was so afraid that he would shatter into a million pieces if I touched him."

Katherine felt stunned to her core, since Nathan had only ever cried once.

Ever.

"After that day, we started talking to each other," Erika mumbled, uncomfortably twiddling her thumbs, "but I won't deny that I was kind of surprised that we went to the same school."

"The coincidence would shock anyone," Kate croaked, unsure of how to handle any of this.

"Every single day since then, I've waited for him on that same bridge so we could walk to school together," the brunette sighed, planting her chin on her hands. "I haven't seen that look in eyes since we started talking... but then I saw _you."_

"What do you mean...?" Kate whispered hoarsely, shaking her head in dismay. "What's any of this got to do with me?"

"Your eyes look like your brother's did on the day I met him," the brunette explained, rubbing her temples, "but the difference with you is that it never goes away like it does with Nate. I keep expecting to see that look disappear, even if it's being covered up, but it never does... and it aggravates me because I _recognize_ it now. You and your brother obviously had some awful crap happen to you, and I want to make it easier."

Kate only had one question after hearing all this.

"Why?" the albino whispered.

The brunette smiled a little, but she did look a bit nervous.

"B-because," Erika stammered, fiddling with her pencil case, "I... I'm in love with your brother, Kate."

Another flash of lightning lit up the windows, but this one lasted longer than it should have.

In fact... it didn't even seem like lightning at all: Kate's eyes had gone blank because something within her soul, something that felt abnormally important, was being dissolved.

It was like a small anchor inside her had somehow been lifted away, and the dread... the feeling of danger that had balled up in her stomach...

It was being let loose.

In that moment, Katherine knew something terrible was about to happen... and somehow, she had a feeling that Erika's seemingly harmless statement had triggered it.

The pale girl stiffened when she felt an icy draft of air tickling the back of her neck. Almost immediately, a strange presence entered her awareness, as though someone had just taken up space directly behind her. Several loose strands of hair drifted in front of her face as she sat there, staring at the chalkboard with enormous pink eyes. Erika was still talking, but she could no longer hear it: a ringing silence had filled her mind, blotting out everything around her.

She felt, rather than heard, the breath of air that the person behind her took.

_I don't want to see..._ Katherine whispered silently, heart speeding up and pounding against her chest; the world around her faded out and tilted slightly as the ringing noise filled her ears, making her see black and red spots. _I don't want to see whoever is behind m_e...

Unfortunately, she felt as though dark and shadowy hands were reaching out to grab her from behind, so she steeled herself and turned around.

The girl's amethyst eyes widened in shock as she beheld a man with waist-length blonde hair standing in the aisle between the desks near the back of the room: his skin was almost as pale as her own, and his eyes were the color of liquid silver.

The girl felt her heart skip a beat: she didn't want to have anything to do with him.

She knew something terrible would happen if he came anywhere near her.

"W-who the hell are you?" Kate abruptly demanded, catching the attention of several students. "How'd you get in here?"

"Huh?" Erika asked, staring at her in confusion before turning around and looking at the man as well; she instantly jumped and her eyes widened. "Whoa! When did he get in here?"

"I've found you," the man stated in a blank, husky tone; when he started moving towards her, Kate jumped out of her seat and whirled so she was facing him. "The time has come."

"W-what...?" Kate stammered, staring at him with a startled expression. "Excuse me for being blunt, but what the hell are you _talking_ about? And how did you get in here?"

"You must come with me," he stated, continuing to move towards her. "I will explain later."

"_Hell _no!" Kate shouted, shaking her head in alarm and crossing her arms over her chest like an X. "I'm not going anywhere with a guy I don't know, so you can march your creepy ass out the door! Don't let it hit you on the way out!"

"There is no time to waste," the blonde man stated simply, refusing to lower his eyes. "Come with me."

"Seriously, what's going on?!" Kate snapped, glancing at the students who were still in the room; however, when she realized that Tiffany, Alexa, and Brittany were still present and ogling at the scene in front of them, she let out a sigh of intense relief. "Okay, look... I know you girls don't like me, but _this_ is going too far. Could you make this guy go away now?"

"Uh, excuse me?" Tiffany drawled, cocking her hip with an offended expression. _"We_ don't know this guy. Hell, even _I_ don't know him. What's his deal?"

"How the heck should _I_ know!" Kate retorted, clenching her fists. "I've never met him before, either!"

"This is weird," Erika stated seriously, getting to her feet and backing away from the creep with wary eyes. "How the heck did he get in here without anyone noticing?"

"Good question," Brittany snorted, tapping her chin. "We've been by the door since Mr. Ross left, so one of us should have seen him."

Kate's eyes widened in alarm when he took another step forward.

"Hey, s-stop it!" she squeaked, lifting her hands and taking a huge step back back. "Seriously, go away!"

"We must not delay any longer," the blonde man hissed, lunging forward and abruptly snatching her slender wrist; Kate squealed loudly in fright, causing several of the students standing in the doorway to jump. "It is not safe here... you must come with me: we cannot waste time."

"No! Let go! Let go of me!" Kate shrieked, struggling to get out of his grasp; her eyes widened when she realized how strong he was. "Someone, help me! Go get a teacher!"

Almost abruptly, his eyes narrowed and his fist tightened.

"_Ow!" _Kate shrieked, angrily hitting his arm with her free hand. "Ow! Ow! OW! That _hurts!_ Let me _go, _you awful creep!

"Halt your foolish behavior, Daughter of Ainur," the blonde man urged, roughly jerking her forward with cold silver eyes. "You _will_ come with me."

"NOOOOOOO! GET OFF ME, YOU FUCKING CREEP!" Kate screeched, jerking her hand out of his grasp with all of her strength and stumbling away from him; she ended up tripping over a chair and smacked into the wall, but she somehow managed to stay on her feet. "S-stay back! Don't touch me! Ever again!"

"K-Katherine, what's going on?" Erika stammered, watching as the man approached the cowering albino girl. "Is this honestly for real?! How serious is this situation?!"

"It's serious! It's _dead _serious! Hurry up and go get Mr. Ross!" Katie wailed, shakily picking up a nearby math textbook and throwing it at the blonde man; when he merely ducked and continued moving forward, the girl backed into the corner and pressed herself against the wall. She frantically scrabbled for the nearest object and happened upon a chalkboard eraser, which she threw with all of her strength; when he tilted his head and dodged it with no change in expression, her knees started shaking and she felt like she was going to pass out. "Stop it! Don't take another step! Seriously, I mean it! I won't hesitate to kick you in the balls if you don't leave me alone! Don't come any closer!"

"You are being foolish," the blonde man stated coldly. "Halt your insolent behavior."

"THEN GET AWAY FROM ME!" Katie shrieked, bursting into terrified tears. "NATHAN, HELP ME!"

"S-she's crying!" Brittany scoffed, green eyes widening with a start. "Whoa! Dude, the witch is crying! Look!"

"Okay, it's official: this isn't a hoax," Tiffany muttered, whirling around and bolting out out of sight. "I'll be right back, Kate! Just hold on for a bit!"

"Hurry!" the albino cried, hunching her shoulders and cowering down when the man slammed his hands down on either side of her. "Jesus! HURRY!"

"There is no mistake here," the stranger stated, looking into her terrified eyes. "It is you... Tauriel."

Katherine jumped and stared at him in shock, recalling her nightmares with a flash.

"No! You're wrong! My name is Katie!" she shouted, angrily flailing her arms. "I'm pretty damn sure that you've got the wrong girl, so get away from me!"

"You are abnormally stubborn," the man hissed, narrowing his silver eyes; when he lifted his hand and clutched her small chin, tilting her head up, she started trembling. "You are deluded: there is no mistake here. My eyes see things that were, things that are, and things that may be. You are indeed Tauriel... different in all forms of the word, but in all actuality, the same being."

"HUH?!" Kate choked, staring at him with hunched shoulders and wide eyes; she tried to pull away, but his fingers tightened on her chin. "Ow! Ow! L-let go of me! W-what the hell are you doing?!"

"Accept your fate!" the blonde man barked, making her jump. "There is much that you must do! You no longer have the right to waste your life! You have been marked by fate: you must accept it!"

"F-fine! Fine! If you'll just go away and leave me the hell alone, I-I'll do whatever you want!" Kate stammered, cowering against the wall with terror in her eyes. "Just let go of me already!"

With that, he abruptly let go of her chin and pressed a single finger against her forehead.

Her breath hitched when a searing agony instantly burned through her right shoulder.

"OW!" she cried, clutching her arm. "Ow, ow, ow! What the hell?! My shoulder... it's burning! Ow!"

"What's going on here?!" Mr. Ross suddenly demanded, shouldering his way into the classroom with Tiffany close behind; the moment he took in the scene before him, his eyes widened and he blinked in surprise. "Excuse me, but who are you? Explain to me why you're harassing my student, otherwise I'll be calling the authorities and letting them handle this situation."

"This is none of your concern," the blonde retorted, glancing at the man with no change in his expression. "Leave us be."

Mr. Ross and everyone standing behind him stiffened in total surprise, since nobody had believed the guy would stand against a teacher. Several of the smarter students left the entrance and hastily ran down the hall, sprinting at top speed towards the main offices: nobody wanted to deal with a lunatic, especially if he had some sort of concealed weapon on him.

Kate stared at her teacher with fearful eyes.

"What did you just say to me?" Mr. Ross demanded, glancing at Kate's terrified expression with furrowed brows. "While she's under the roof of this school, that girl is _all_ of my concern: she is one of _my_ students, and _her_ safety was entrusted to _me._ Now, can you rationally explain to me how a man your size managed to back a high school girl into a corner and still seem innocent? Speak up, sir! Now!"

"If you care so much about her safety," the blonde man stated in a low voice, "let her come with me."

"What do you mean?" the teacher scoffed, then turned and looked at Kate. "Miss Sanders, what's going on? Do you know this man?"

"No, I don't!" she cried, shaking her head. "He won't leave me alone, and..."

Kate was just about to continue explaining when her eyes suddenly went blank and she had a vision.

_The classroom... there was glass... a thundering sound... everyone was lying dead... and..._

She twitched back to reality within seconds, but by that point, it was too late.

"GET DOWN!" the albino girl screeched, instinctively dropping to all fours and covering her head with both hands. "NOW! HURRY!"

Some people, such as Erika, Tiffany, and a few frightened students who had adrenaline pumping through them hit the deck out of instinct; others chose to remain upright, her teacher included.

Only a split second later, an enormous shadow abruptly fell across the walls for a moment, darkening the classroom immensely.

Then, with a horrible roaring nose, every single window in the classroom exploded in a shower of glass and wood: a howling wind filled the air, and glass from the busted windows went flying into the room, eliciting several screams. For several moments, there was nothing but complete silence in the school halls outside of the classroom.

Then... a high-pitched screech of terror filled the air.

When Kate lifted her head, she felt her heart drop through the floor: the entire classroom had been completely demolished within the span of a second. Students lay on the floor with desks and chairs on top of them, some bleeding from the flying glass, others bruised from the wood that had flown off the walls, and the rest unconscious from the furniture that had crashed into them. The albino's entire body quaked as she took in all of the upturned desks. However, when she twisted around and looked behind her, the girl's face completely drained of color: every single one of the windows had somehow imploded into the classroom.

It looked as though a bomb had gone off.

Or rather, as though her vision had come to pass.

"W-what the hell... _was_ that?" Kate spluttered, looking at the destruction in horror. "What just happened?! All the windows are gone!"

"Oh, my God..." Tiffany whimpered, staring at her unconscious friends with enormous eyes. "Alexa?! B-Brit?! H-hey... say something... hey!"

"S-Sanders..." Mr. Ross croaked, finally lifting his head; the girl's breath caught in terror when she realized that his left cheek had been sliced almost completely in half. "Call... a doctor..."

"No!" Tiffany screeched, instantly whirling around. "Don't let her do it!"

"Why?!" Erika cried, looking at everything in shock. "We have to get help!"

Tiffany didn't respond: she merely glared at Kate with frigid blue eyes, blonde hair disheveled and face dark.

"You knew..." she hissed, making the albino freeze. "You knew this would happen, didn't you?! You set us up, didn't you?! Was this all your doing?!"

"Huh?! No!" Kate whispered, stiffening in horror when she glanced at all of her injured classmates. "No! No, I swear!"

"Liar!" Tiffany screeched, crawling over and clutching the front of the white-haired girl's blazer. "THIS IS YOUR FAULT, ISN'T IT?! _ISN'T IT?!_ YOU WITCH! YOU CURSED MY FRIENDS! YOU _CURSED_ THEM! YOU STUPID FREAK!"

"You're wrong!" Kate cried, clutching Tiffany's wrists with terrified tears in her eyes. "I didn't do it! I swear! I swear, Tiffany! It wasn't me!"

"LIAR!" Tiffany screeched again, grabbing her pigtails and jerking her head around with a violent snarl; Kate flailed and shrieked when the ties holding her hair in place snapped, but the girl still didn't let go. "YOU'RE A WITCH! A FREAK! GOD DAMN IT, THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!"

"Tiffany, get off of her!" Erika yelped, lunging forward and smacking her arms off of the smaller girl. "It wasn't her fault! How could she possibly be behind this sort of thing?! It's only because of her that we even _knew_ it was going to happen, you moron! This isn't the first time she's saved someone's life like this!"

"I-it wasn't me," the girl stated in a shaken tone, shaking her head with hysterical pink eyes. "I didn't do it... I swear... it wasn't my fault!"

However, she locked up when the blonde man moved directly behind her, eyes widening even further.

When she woodenly turned her head and stared up at him with shaking limbs, his silver eyes were blank and almost... psychotic-looking.

"Come with me," he stated in a low tone, shadowed eyes widening and making her heart tighten. _"Now."_

Nope.

Finally reaching her wit's end, Kate scrambled to her feet and bolted for the door, screaming at the top of her lungs. Her silver hair flew behind her like a flag when she took off down the hall at top speed; several students jumped and moved aside with startled expressions after she flew past them.

However, after taking a glance over her shoulder, the girl's heart nearly burst out of her chest when she realized she was being followed by the creepy blonde.

Breathing hard, she started running as fast as she could, dress shoes clacking against tile.

_Nathan, please,_ Kate silently wailed, panting as she sprinted down every hall she could find. _Please! Help me!_

When the albino girl skidded to a halt at the double stairways that led to the upper and lower floors, she instantly started heading towards the ground.

However, an enormous shadow unexpectedly blotted out the light coming through the windows for a brief moment, making her jump: she eyed the windows, wondering what the hell she had just seen, but then...

It happened again.

The windows at the end of the the hall abruptly cracked with a huge thundering noise and rapidly blasted into the corridor, one after the other, in a quick line directly towards where she was standing.

Kate instantly let out a terrified shriek and dove behind the stairway banister, covering her head just as the rest of the windows in the hallway behind her exploded. A terrible thundering wind flew into the school directly afterwards, making the girl shiver violently.

When everything fell silent, however, Kate slowly rose to her feet and peered at the destruction in horror. Feeling shocked, she stepped into the hall and looked around for the blonde man, but he was nowhere to be seen.

Then the air grew cold and her hair stood on end for no reason whatsoever.

Kate looked up at the ceiling when a thin layer of shadow began to slide across it, stretching past her and moving on down the decimated hallway. After a moment of staring at the strange anomaly, wondering if it was another vision, she turned and looked towards the source.

However, her heart flew up her throat when she saw the first shadowy figure walking into sight... followed by eight more. Her lips quivered and she took a step backwards when they turned towards her. One of the hooded figures drew a familiar black sword and lifted it, uttering the same banshee-like screech she'd heard on the East River Bridge.

Only this time it was louder, and much more vivid.

It made her skin crawl and had her heart racing.

"Oh, shit..." Kate whimpered, backing away when they began gliding towards her. "Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit... what the fuck?! This isn't normal!"

When they screeched again, the girl let out a terrified squeak and flew down the stairs, heading for the library with her feet flying.

She needed to get to Miss McKinley.

Miss McKinley would know what to do!

However, just as she opened the door and the librarian blinked at her with a smile, the blonde man appeared behind her out of nowhere.

The girl jumped when he gripped her wrist and prevented her from moving inside her sanctuary.

"NO! Let me go!" Kate screeched, struggling against his powerful grip. "Miss McKinley! Miss McKinley, help me! HELP!"

"What on earth?!" the old woman gasped, standing up in an instant. "W-what are you doing to Katherine?! Let go of her, this instant, you cretin!"

"Not here," the man snapped, making her flinch. "Go to the roof!"

"SHUT UP!" the girl screamed, still struggling to get away from him. "LET GO OF ME AND-!"

The rest of her words were cut off by the sound of shattering glass and a high-pitched scream.

Kate instantly whirled around and gasped when she saw Miss McKinley staring at the library windows, which had exploded in a spray of glittering shards.

"W-what in the name of everything good just happened here?!" the elderly woman squalled, running over to the windows with enormous eyes. "W-what?!"

"If you do not wish to cause anymore harm to anyone," the man rapped out, glaring into her eyes, "you must go to the roof!"

"WHY?!" Kate wailed, tearing past him and sprinting past a few confused-looking students who'd been on their way up the stairs. "This is _so_ not okay!"

Regardless, she ran up two complete flights of steps until she hit the entrance to the rooftop.

A fierce wind assaulted her the moment she stepped outside, but once she was out in the open she doubled over to catch her breath: the girl instantly sank down to her knees and heaved for air.

"Kate?" a familiar voice choked, making the girl jump in surprise; she whipped around to see her brother sitting on the building that served as the rooftop door's foundation. "What are you doing here?"

"Nathan, thank God!" Kate cried, instantly trying to hurry over; however, when the man gripped her wrist, she jumped. "HEY! Let go! Nate, help me! He's a psycho! My whole classroom _blew up_ after he walked in!"

_"_Wait,_ what's_ going on?!" Nathan scoffed, instantly getting to his feet. "What do you mean your classroom blew up?"

"I mean all the windows exploded, even the windows in the second floor hallway and the library!" Kate wailed, bursting into hysterical tears. "Nathan, help me!"

The albino boy stared at the man behind her, countenance becoming a bit apprehensive.

However, when the stranger's grip tightened to the point where Kate's wrist popped and she let out a yelp of pain, his eyes sharpened in fury.

"Let go of my sister right now!" Nathan barked, moving to the edge of the rooftop. "I swear to God, let her go or I'll beat the shit out of you, bitch!"

That's when a deafening animal screech split the air.

Nathan glanced up only a split second before Kate did, but both twins turned a sickly shade of white when they saw what was resting in the air above them. A dragon the size of a small building was plummeting towards them from the sky. Kate's heart nearly halted when the frigid memory of her nightmares slammed into her gut. Her entire body instantly went limp: she was staring one of her nightmares clean in the face. Then... an even more impossible sight met her eyes: a giant eagle the size of Toni's house flew overhead and smashed into the dragon, sending a multitude of black feathers raining down from the sky.

Right before her knees buckled, a disembodied voice whispered in her ear.

_It is often said that star-crossed lovers are reborn as twins,_ the voice whispered, _but if one of the lovers survives and the other does not... the fallen one will be reborn again... and again... until history allows them to meet their final fate together. Only then may they live happily ever after._

"Who... are you?" Kate whispered, staring up at the blonde man with terrified amethyst eyes. "Why are you here?"

"I am Gwendolyn," the blonde stated firmly, giving her an otherworldly expression. "I have been looking for you because you do not belong here... you never did. It is Middle Earth that has claim on you."

Kate covered her ears, not wanting to listen, to hear, to live.

She wanted to pretend it was a bad dream.

Then again, in a way, that's exactly what it was: a nightmare.

And the shittiest part was the fact that she was completely awake.

Even worse than that was the Fox 37 news van sitting in front of the gate: the man Kate had saved was holding a microphone in his hand, mouth open and completely agape. The camerawoman was pointing the lens at the monstrous creatures battling on the rooftop. As far as Kate was currently concerned, things literally couldn't get any worse than they already were.

Sadly, she was wrong.

Things were about to get a whole lot worse, and fast.


	7. Chapter 6: The Gate Opens

**Chapter Six: The Gate Opens**

Katherine was in shock.

Everything in her life seemed to be collapsing again, and this time, the little peace of mind she'd managed to salvage was fading away by the second.

Her eyes were large and blank as she sat there on her knees, watching the two enormous mythological creatures battle it out above her.

"I-is that...?" Nathan finally hiccupped, choking on his own words. "Is that a... a _dragon__?!"_

His question wasn't answered.

She gasped when the eagle was knocked towards the ground with a screech of pain, because not even a second later, the dragon descended and started shredding the rooftop with its claws. Katherine instantly shrieked and whirled around, tearing over to Nathan and clasping his hand: the girl then took off running, dragging her stunned brother towards the rooftop exit.

However, when the dragon-creature was knocked off course by a retaliation from the eagle, it swerved and smashed the exit into pieces before leaping off the roof and out of sight: the sound of glass exploding somewhere below and more screams caught Kate's attention.

_It's the speed of the wings causing the implosions,_ she realized, shoulders tensing up in horror. _That thing is moving fast enough to send air shooting through the glass!_

"What are those things?!" Kate screeched, looking at her brother with a horrified expression. "Nate!"

"H-how am I supposed to know?!" Nathan squawked, gawping at the airborne creatures battling it out above them. "Jesus... this is totally insane!"

"T'is a Fell Beast and a great eagle," the blonde man replied, speaking as though it were the simplest question in the world; the albino girl twitched and looked at him with stunned amethyst eyes, wondering how he was acting so calm. "One is friend and one is foe."

Katie and her brother ogled him with fearful gazes.

Terrified, the two of them clung together, but when the strange man walked over and pressed something into Kate's hands, the girl looked down at it with stricken eyes.

She was unable to process half of what was really happening, but after a few moments of blinking at the object in her palms, her mouth fell open and her head flew back up. Gawking, she stared at the blonde man's face.

"Take this sword and keep it close to you," he stated softly. "This is the proof that you belong to Middle Earth."

"M-Middle Earth?" Kate squeaked, looking down at the object again in alarm. "What's Middle Earth?!"

"Who _are_ you?!" Nathan shouted, stomping his foot in anger. "What's going around here?!"

"I am Gwendolyn," the blonde man called, silver eyes flashing to an obscure beetle black for a moment. "You need not know more."

"Bullshit! Explain what's going on here!" Kate cried, shakily holding out the sword. "I-I don't want this, so take it back and tell me what's happening!"

"I've come to take you back to Middle Earth," the man explained, giving her a firm look. "This plane of existence is not where you belong."

"What the fuck are you talking about?!" Nathan squawked, bolting forward and gripping his sister's frail arm; with possessive motions, he dragged the girl away from the blonde and stood in front of her with fierce eyes. "Screw all the crazy talk about this Middle Earth place! Those monsters shouldn't even exist! It's not possible, so how the hell did they get here?! And why do you want my sister?!"

"The Fell Beast is a creature born in the fires of Mordor," Gwendolyn explained, looking into the boy's eyes. "It followed me here."

"The fires of what?!" Nate scoffed, furrowing his brows. "What's Mordor?!"

He ignored the question in favor of turning back to the girl, who seemed to be going into shock.

"Slay the Beast with your sword," the blonde finally commanded, looking straight at Kate. "End its existence."

"What?!" the albino girl shrieked in horror, looking at the weapon in her hands. "Oh, _hell_ no!_"_

"Why can't _you_ kill that thing?!" Nathan cried, fearfully dancing from foot to foot.

"I cannot shed the blood of another," Gwendolyn hissed, narrowing his eyes in anger. "Nor can I intervene in events that take place in any world."

"You're insane!" Kate wailed, flailing the weapon. "Nate, come on! Down the fire escape! We have to get out of here!"

The man's eyes widened when the girl turned to go.

"YOU SHALL NOT TRY MY PATIENCE ANY LONGER, CHILD," he thunderously rapped out. "DO NOT TEST ME!"

"SHUT UP!" Kate screeched back, clutching her brother's arm with terrified eyes. "YOU'RE A FUCKING PSYCHO! LEAVE ME AND MY BROTHER ALONE AND JUST GO AWAY!"

The moment she said it, the man lunged forward and wrapped his arms around her middle. Katherine yelped when she was swept off her feet, frantically kicking her legs in an attempt to get back down.

Her breath hitched when another eagle swooped down, beating its tawny wings. The girl's eyes widened so much when the talons reached out that they were reflected on her irises.

"Stop!" Kate shrieked, frantically flailing for her brother's hand. "Nathan! Don't let it take me! Nathan, help me! HELP!"

"K-Katie, fight him off!" Nathan shouted, lunging forward and pulling on the man's arms. "Let go of my sister, you fucking ASS! RIGHT NOW!"

"This doesn't concern you," Gwendolyn chided, giving the boy a fierce look. "You do not need to involve yourself with her any further."

"I won't go anywhere without my brother!" the girl screeched, kicking at the man's knees. "Put me down! He's all I have left! Don't take me away from him!"

For several moments, there was nothing but the sound of wind and otherworldly screeches to fill the air.

"Fine," the blonde man called, closing his eyes. "Take the boy as well."

So saying, he dropped Kate and shoved Nate before leaping out of range: both of them hit the ground hard. However, with one beat of the eagle's enormous wings, a gale of wind sent the twins flying over the edge of the rooftop. Both of them screamed as they plummeted towards the ground, but before they could hit it, the ebony eagle snatched them out of the air, catching their flipping bodies in its claws.

Then it began flying away, holding them as though they weighed nothing.

"NOOOOOO!" Kate screeched, flailing her legs; not too far below, she saw a familiar brunette running outside with a blonde girl not far behind her and instantly struggled even harder. "HEEEELLLP!"

"KATIE?!" Erika cried, blue eyes widening when she saw that the girl had been captured. "Oh my GOD!"

"Help!" the albino girl shrieked, flailing around in the bird's claws. "Erika, help!"

"ERIKA!" Nathan roared, thrusting out a hand, violet eyes frantic. "NO! STAY AWAY! DON'T FOLLOW US!"

"NATHAN?!" the girl wailed, taking off after them on foot. "NO! BABY! HANG ON, NATE, I'M COMING! JUST HOLD ON!"

Kate tried to claw the giant bird's talons with her sharp nails, and she twisted her body in an effort to get free, but it was no use: uttering a hoarse screech, the monstrous eagle flew high into the air.

"Erika!" Katherine wailed, waving her arms before the bird could carry them too far away. "Erika, go get Gene Hughs! _GET GENE __HUGHS__!"_

She didn't have a chance to add anything else.

Both teens starting screaming hysterically when the eagle abruptly soared upwards and carried them hundreds of feet into the sky.

"Oh, my GOOOOOD!" Kate screeched, flailing her legs at the open air before bursting into tears. "NOOOOOOOOOO! TOO HIGH! TOO HIGH!"

Nathan did nothing but scream at the top of his lungs as the school campus dropped away.

Erika, on the other hand, immediately bolted over to the school gates and started flailing her arms. Then she began making frantic gestures towards the sky.

The camera woman below instantly pointed up at them and let out an exclamation, but when the grey-eyed reported saw the screaming twins flailing in the grasp of the flying beast, his eyes widened and he started shouting something that couldn't be heard.

The group of people standing outside the news van instantly packed up their gear in a flurry and hopped into the vehicle, with Erika close behind.

Kate squeezed her eyes shut and tried not to pass out. She felt her hair whipping around as she was carried away from the school, but she was so terrified of the chasm below her that she refused to open her eyes and see what was going on around her.

She didn't even open them when it started raining and the sound of ocean surf met her ears.

She couldn't stop shaking.

Her heart nearly stopped when the eagle abruptly let her go.

But instead of plummeting from the sky, her dress shoes landed on a hard surface only a few feet below her. Kate's eyes flew open wide and she instantly sank down to her knees, breathing hard and pupils dilated: high above, the Eagle flew away and circled them like an enormous vulture.

After taking a moment to catch her breath, the girl finally glanced up.

Nathan was lying flat on the ground, clawing at the stone with shaking fingers in an attempt to get a firm hold on it. He honestly looked sick to his stomach, and Kate didn't blame him in the least. She was having trouble keeping her own breakfast down.

"W-what just happened to us...?" Nathan finally croaked, looking up at Kate through his soaked white hair. "What the hell just happened?!"

"Why are you asking me?!" Kate panted, pushing her sopping white hair out of her eyes. "I have no clue what's going on!"

"K-Kate... I'm asking because of your nightmares," Nathan croaked, staring at her with hostile eyes. "You said something about dragons and giant birds, so you knew this would happen, didn't you?!"

"No! I didn't think it was real!" the girl protested, shaking her head in shock. "Nathan, this is insane! Things like this aren't supposed to happen!"

"It _is_ happening, though!" Nathaniel shouted, glaring at his twin in outrage. "Impossible or not, it's really happening! How do you explain that?!"

"STOP YELLING AT ME!" Kate screeched, leaning forward and startling her brother into jerking backwards. "I'm telling you, it's not my fault!"

"Are you all right?" a familiar voice asked; both white-haired teens whirled to the side and stared at Gwendolyn, who had somehow appeared on the stone pier without warning. "If so, we must leave now."

As if to emphasize his words, an inhuman screech came from the direction of the school, causing the teenagers to jump in alarm.

Then another screech came from the ocean.

Kate whirled around and looked in the direction of the Statue of Liberty, mouth trembling and shoulders shaking; Nathan stood up and backed away from the edge of the pier, struggling to stand up straight despite his shaking knees.

The girl covered her mouth with both hands and stared at the snake-like monster that was now flying towards them. A flash of lightning illuminated the Fell Beast from behind, making the twins cringe.

"P-please, help!" Kate begged, looking up at Gwendolyn. "Make that thing stop!"

"Take this," the blonde man stated, holding out the sword once again. "If we are to survive, you must kill the Fell Beast."

"HOW?!" the girl squeaked, frantically shaking her head. "Are you crazy?! If I get hurt, I will DIE! And how could I possibly kill that thing?! I have no idea how to use a sword!"

"Then I will lend you strength," the blonde man stated simply, making both teens freeze. "Tauriel! Awaken!"

Almost immediately, Katherine's heart skipped a beat and she choked, clutching her chest.

Her pupils contracted into pinpricks as her body was engulfed with a strange sensation, and almost as if he were calling her, her eyes drifted to meet the man's silver irises. Katherine couldn't tear her gaze away from his as strange, mist-like tendrils of golden light began to spill out of his catlike pupils.

Nathan backed off as the light moved around his body in swirling streams that seemed to shift like mist. The entire area filled with a sparkling golden glow in the same moment that an unfamiliar sensation of strength flickered up inside Katie's inner self.

Her white hair and pale skin almost seemed to glow as the glittering rivers of luminescence slowly encircled her. Katherine's large violet eyes locked on a tendril that stopped in front of her face, pupils becoming ever larger when it started forming a claw-like hand made of shimmering light.

She had a feeling that this was not going to be pleasant.

The girl involuntarily gasped when the glowing hand suddenly surged forward like with fierce wind that shredded deep into her mouth and stole her breath: it roared down the girl's throat, causing her to involuntarily arch her back as an unexpected pain seared throughout her veins and began altering her body.

The sound of a ghostly scream echoed out across the ocean as a roaring wind enshrouded the harbor. Nathan shivered when Kate's wavering wail joined in with the somewhat ghostly high-pitched scream of pain. The two sounds almost seemed to be mixing together in disembodied harmony.

He cowered against the wet ground when his twin sister was lifted off her feet and held suspended in the air by an unseen force. Behind her, a smokey woman with fiery red hair slowly began to appear: she had her arms wrapped around the albino girl's torso in an almost loving embrace, and her long hair was billowing around in a weightless manner.

However, the frightening part was that Nathan recognized the apparition.

"Emily...?" Nathan whispered, pupils slowly dilating.

Then, all of a sudden, the light roared towards the sky and vanished.

Katherine instantly collapsed to her knees, staring vacantly at the clouds.

Her soaked hair cascaded back down around her shoulders and pooled on the wet stone beneath her.

"What the hell...?" Nate whispered, staring at the fading redhead's silhouette with enormous pink eyes. "Who... no, _what_ was that...?"

"The Nazgul are coming," Gwendolyn murmured, holding out the sword. "Take this and destroy the fell beast that's hunting you. You no longer have a choice. I command you, as one who has already perished... to smite your enemies once more, Tauriel Ithlain."

"No!" Kate choked, weakly shaking her head in protest; however, the girl's face twitched when her arm started moving on its own, taking the sword against her will and drawing it from its sheath. Her face drained of color and startled tears spilled down her cheeks when she held the weapon out in front of her with a practiced stance. "H-huh?! W-w-what's going on?! Nathan! Make it stop! I can't stop! Please, help me! My body won't... it won't... respond! HELP ME!"

"Katherine, it's coming!" Nathan yelped, pointing at the winged monster. "Let's just run! We don't have to fight, right?! Can't we just run away?!"

"No, you may not. Fight, Tauriel: I COMMAND you to FIGHT," the man thundered. "Whenever you are threatened, you will FIGHT. You SHALL NOT DIE AGAIN!"

With that, he leapt out of range and folded his arms, silver eyes watchful.

"No! No, wait!" Kate shrieked, looking at him with a terrified expression before staring straight ahead once again; the albino girl's pink eyes widened in horror when a gale of ferocious wind blasted her wet hair out of her face, for the Fell Beast was soaring at her at an impossible speed. She could see the water behind it flying towards the sky as it soared towards her: the girl felt her heart thudding madly as her arms drew back as if to swing at it. "No way... this can't be happening! No! NO! NOOO!"

Kate's heart stopped when she felt her arms swinging the blade.

_This isn't real,_ she whispered silently, pink eyes blank and full of tears. _It's not real... it's not real... it's not real... please, God... let it be another nightmare..._

However, her mind went numb when she heard the sound of metal rending flesh...

The sound of a monster's screech cutting off and going silent forever...

Then nothing but red...

Red rivers that began to stain the stone pier with an ended life.

Kate stared at the dead monster with a stricken expression, every muscle in her body shaking violently and eyes wide with the shock of what she'd just done: her mouth was open wide and her breathing was irregular, but the only thing she could see was the red that had stained the gorgeous blade and her entire left sleeve. Crimson rivers trailed off the edge of the pier and into the ocean as the rain washed them away, but no amount of rain would ever take away the memory of what she'd just done.

She felt her entire body go numb in an instant.

"Red..." she whispered, staring at the bloody concrete with shaking muscles. "Red... rivers..."

This had already happened once before... so, why...?

Why again...?

What sort of sick, twisted madman would make her relive this memory...?

Again, she was seeing these rivers... the rivers that stained the earth with a life that would no longer continue moving forward.

The rivers that would surely lead to a funeral... a funeral like the one that had been given to her sister.

Emily's funeral... the girl that had once been Katherine's closest friend and Nathan's pillar of hope.

Inside the red liquid that was flowing across the concrete towards the ocean, she could see everything... the sidewalk with the colorful shops, the adults who'd stopped to ask how they were doing... and herself, as a little girl, walking beside a beautiful teenage girl with shoulder-length red hair. In the reflection of the blood trailing across the ground, she could see a world that had been lost to her for a long time.

A world she had destroyed with her own mind.

Emily had been walking beside her... but unlike Katherine, she had been so pretty.

Beautiful face, pale skin, big blue eyes... auburn hair that gleamed like fire... a dimple in her left cheek and a little dent in her chin. A cheerful girl who joked around with the people she passed on the streets. Kate had been terrified that day since she'd had nightmares about the same red rivers running across some sort of black stone.

She had told Emily not to go... she had tried to get out of it, over and over again... had begged not to go out to the dentist, to reschedule. She had dragged it out until the last possible second, but it hadn't been any surprise that Emily had refused to listen.

In the end, she'd forced the girl to go regardless of her fright.

And as a result, they'd ended up going to the dentist a little bit off schedule to get her tooth filled.

Back then, they'd lived in a metro area only a few miles away from the main part of New York City... their side of town had almost no violence, little crime, and very safe neighborhoods.

Katherine's blank, horrified eyes filled with shaken tears when she saw everything being replayed in the blood running across the concrete.

They had been walking home... her hand had bumped Emily's because the two of them had been that close together.

Then... Emily had patted Katie's cheek, walked over to a patch of grass, picked a little pink flower, and handed it to her younger sister with a grin.

"_You were a brave girl today,_" Emily had sighed, grinning when a flush covered Katie's pale face. "_Nothing bad happened, see? There were no red rivers: we're safe._"

For a moment, she'd almost believed her sister... Katie had even attempted to take the flower...

But she'd tripped over the uneven concrete.

Emily had grabbed her arm in an attempt to steady her just as the sound of screeching tires filled the air. Before the little girl had known what was really happening, the sports cars careened around the corner.

She'd heard the gunfire... seen the jerk that had gone through Emily's entire body. Felt the hot blood spray all over her her face. Her side. Her arm. Her hand.

The hand that Emily's had just been bumping against.

When the older girl's body had tilted past her, Kate hadn't really understood what was going on. She'd touched her crimson-coated cheeks in shock and turned her head just as her sister landed on her stomach. Emily had been lying there on the ground with a huge hole in her temple and a growing puddle of blood already pooling around her face. Kate had blinked at her, not understanding the red that had flown everywhere... not understanding why her big sister was no longer moving, or even why her large blue eyes had become so still.

For a long moment, she simply hadn't understood.

However, when it had finally hit her, the girl's stomach had tightened: she'd suddenly felt as though a large fist had clutched her heart.

As though someone were squeezing it, trying to crush it, trying to destroy her.

Eyes widening and mouth opening as the unbearable pressure filled her, the little girl had let out a screech that had traveled up and down the streets.

Her knees had given out when she'd tried to move forward, so she'd settled for crawling over to her sister, frantically pawing at the older girl's shirt.

"_Emily!_" Katie had shrieked, shaking her body. "_Please, wake up! Open your eyes! You promised! You promised you wouldn't ever leave me alone! You said we were safe! You promised there would be no red rivers! You can't! _"

The older girl still hadn't moved: her face had gone completely slack.

She hadn't even closed her eyes.

"_Emily!_" Katie had wailed, smacking the older girl's arms. "_EMILY! EMILY! EMILY! WAKE UP!_"

However, there had been no response... no amount of chafing, punching, or smacking had any effect... and when reality had come crashing down that her sister might have been gone forever, the horrible feeling that had taken hold of her heart turned so black that it nearly crushed her. For the first time in her life, Kate hadn't been able to breathe... as though she'd been falling beneath an ocean of shadows... her tears had started flowing, but her expression had gone blank.

Had stayed blank.

"_HELP MY SISTER!_ " the little girl wailed, voice seeming to echo into the hauntingly red world. "_Somebody, please! HELP US!_"

But nobody had come... nobody had been brave enough to try.

And Katie had been left all alone, in that cold grey world, for six hours until help had finally arrived.

But by then... no, in the moment it had actually happened... it had been too late.

"This is not the only enemy pursuing you," Gwendolyn stated evenly, jerking her blank eyes up. "You will come with me now. Your destiny has been set in stone, and you must not perish until it has been concluded."

"No..." Kate whispered, not even registering her body's actions; the girl dropped the sword and stumbled away from the monster's corpse, muscles shaking violently and eyes full of hysteria. Without another word, she turned around and stumbled over to her gaping brother, ignoring how he flinched away in favor of collapsing into his arms. Kate buried her face in Nathan's soaked blazer, shuddering violently and trying to erase the memories of the creature's death from her mind; she couldn't do it, and that one simple fact caused her to burst into a fit of hysterical tears. "It wasn't my fault, Nathan... not my fault... the red rivers... it wasn't me... I didn't want... just... no more..."

"Kate..." Nathan choked, staring at her in horror. "Kate, calm down!"

"Tauriel, silence your tears and be strong!" Gwendolyn commanded, stepping forward and gripping Kate's arm. "You will do as I say."

The girl flinched when she was jerked out of her brother's grasp and lifted into Gwendolyn's arms..

"NO!" Kate screeched, flailing around and hitting him in the face. "PUT ME DOWN! PUT ME DOWN! LET GOOOOOO!"

"Put her down!" a distant voice shouted, making the blonde man turn; a familiar van had been parked near the edge of the pier. The man that Katherine had saved was standing on the edge of it with fearful but determined eyes, and not far behind him was the camerawoman. "You're being broadcasted on national television, sir: put the girl down and back away from her until the authorities get here."

"NATHAN!" Erika cried, leaping out of the van and bolting over to the man's side. "Nathan, are you all right?! What happened?! Did that giant bird hurt you?!

"I'm fine, but Kate isn't!" he called, glaring at the blonde. "Put my sister down, now!"

"This is none of your concern," the blonde man stated, ignoring how the girl screeched again and started kicking at the air. "This child does not belong here."

"Bastard..." Nathan hissed, getting to his feet and glaring at the blonde with tense shoulders. "Quit talking about this psychotic shit and let go of my sister already."

When Gwendolyn turned to look at him, the boy's lips were drawn back and his amethyst eyes were flinty.

"Calm yourself," the gatekeeper stated firmly. "Was it not your wish? For her to disappear?"

"NO! I'VE SAID IT HUNDREDS OF TIMES, BUT I NEVER MEANT IT! NOT EVEN ONCE!" Nathan barked, shoulders tensing when Kate's head flew to look at him with startled eyes. "NOW, GET OFF MY SISTER!"

Then, before another word could be spoken, he charged forward with his fist drawn back.

However, before he could land the blow, the eagle came soaring down from above and snatched him clean off the ground, dragging him into the air.

He instantly let out a scream.

"NATE!" Erika wailed, charging forward and holding out a hand; he stretched out to her and flailed, but Erika skidded to a halt and burst into tears when he was carried out over the Atlantic ocean despite his futile attempts at getting away. "NATHAN! NO! BRING HIM BACK, YOU MONSTER! BRING MY BOYFRIEND BACK HERE RIGHT NOW!"

"HELP ME!" Kate wailed, thrusting her hand out in the direction of the grey-eyed reporter; he was standing frozen, like the rest of the news crew with stunned eyes. "HELP ME! PLEASE!"

"They cannot and will not do anything to save you," Gwendolyn stated firmly, making the girl twitch and look at his face. "You do not belong here with them."

However, one person contradicted him.

Only one.

"Kate! Hang on!" Erika shrieked, bolting over to the blonde man's side and jerking on his arms. "LET HER GO! LET HER GO! LET HER GO, DAMMIT!"

When she started hitting him and angrily bit his arm, blue eyes frenzied, the blonde narrowed his silver eyes and roughly threw the brunette to the ground.

"Impudent human," he hissed, tilting his head back. "Know your place."

So saying, the man's silver eyes began glowing with a brilliant golden light, which made the brown-haired girl's jaw drop open. With an abrupt impact to the air, a set of gorgeous feathered wings exploded from his back and shredded his shirt to pieces.

Kate stared at the man's wings with a stunned expression, soaked white hair billowing around in the ensuing gale as she tried to comprehend what was happening to her.

None of this seemed like it could be possible... and yet, the proof was right in front of her.

She was being held in the arms of a winged man who had forced her to slaughter a monster that shouldn't have even existed.

"What _are_ you?" Kate whispered in horror, staring into his glowing eyes with a terrified expression. "What the fuck ARE you?! You aren't human!"

"No, I am not," Gwendolyn replied in a thunderous voice, gripping the sword and leaping high into the air. "I am a lesser Ainur... but to you, I am nothing more than the God of Death."

Kate's heart sank and she shrieked when he flapped his wings, throwing a skinny arm around his neck to keep from falling back to the ground. She thrust her free hand out to the group of reporters with enormous eyes, her final gesture of pleading for help.

"HELP!" she wailed, bursting into tears. "HELP ME! SOMEONE!"

When the winged man flew over to where the strange eagle was hovering with her brother, Gwendolyn's eyes began to shine like stars and a huge ripple exploded across the ocean's surface. The girl watched with horrified eyes as something deep under the water began to glow and swirl around. She began shivering when the sea sank downward in a circular manner and winced when a fierce wind slammed into them from below.

After a few moments of staring at the strange development below her, however, the albino realized with a horrified jolt that a glowing hole had opened up beneath the ocean's surface, causing the water to drain into the epicenter.

Then, a light began to radiate from it. Kate winced when it grew so blinding that she could barely see anything below her.

Similarly, everyone on the New York harbor and many people further in Manhattan stopped to stare at the shocking light that had lit up the entire horizon.

People all over the city halted in their tracks, some even going as far as pulling their cars over in the middle of the street and getting out to gawk.

However, Kate let out a shriek when the light exploded outwards with a circular wall of light that roared in every direction.

Even towards the city.

When the wall of magnetized energy hit, windows shattered everywhere, cars were lifted into the air and thrown against metal surfaces, and civilians took off running.

And as the distant thundering of the light's destruction met her ears, Gwendolyn dove towards the whirlpool and Katherine screamed again; her brother joined in when the eagle holding him in its claws dropped as well.

Both teenagers continued screaming as they went flying into the epicenter of the storm.

Kate had an abrupt mental flash of Ariel falling into the sea as Ursula towered above her, but this was much more real.

She was no mermaid... and this was no dream... which meant that she was in very real trouble.

However, her stomach flipped and she let out a choking gasp when her sense of up and down unexpectedly shifted in a dizzying manner. All of a sudden she was being carried towards the sky: she closed her eyes and tried not to vomit as she was carried out of the vortex, but once her head stopped spinning she opened them again and glanced down at the ocean. She flinched when she noticed that certain landmarks that had always been present were missing.

"What the fuck is going on?! Where did the Harbor go?! And where is the Statue of Liberty?!" the albino girl shrieked, flailing around in Gwendolyn's arms when the man flapped over to the winged eagle she'd seen earlier; without speaking a word, he set the girl down on top of the animal's back and fell away from it, long blonde hair vanishing as he flew away. "No, stop! Where are you going?! Don't you dare just leave me here! Nathan! Nathan, where are you?! Nathan, help me!"

Not long after, however, the blonde man returned with her flailing brother and set him down on top of the eagle.

Then he vanished again, dissolving in a spray of golden light.

"W-w-w-w-what the f-f-f-fuck is g-g-g-g-going on?" the boy squeaked, muscles locking up as he looked around. "T-t-t-t-this isn't n-n-n-n-normal!"

"Where are we?" Kate whispered, staring down at the ocean with a pale face. "That isn't the New York harbor... where the hell are we?!"

Unfortunately, she got no answer from below or above.

There was nothing but the sound of a thundering ocean to answer her questions.


	8. Chapter 7: Beyond the Looking Glass

**Chapter Seven: Beyond the Looking Glass**

It was dark... but this time, it was the type of darkness that came when the sun went down. Even though it had been early in the afternoon not even a few seconds ago, night had abruptly fallen on the world and a strange-looking moon was being reflected on the dark surface of the ocean far below.

The eagle carrying the twins eventually descended.

However, Kate could see nothing but the ocean churning below her.

"I feel like I'm gonna throw up," Nathan croaked, eyes squeezed shut; he jolted every time the eagle's wings flapped. "When is this thing gonna land?!"

"I don't know, but I hope it's soon," Katherine whispered hoarsely, shivering when her brother wrapped his arms around her from behind. "Nate, what do we do? I'm scared."

"I'm scared too, you know!" the boy snapped, shivering as the cold wind assaulted them. "Anyway, where the hell are we? And why is it so dark all of a sudden?"

"I don't know," Kate stammered, feeling her stomach lurching when the eagle unexpectedly veered to the left; she leaned forward and clutched the feathers in front of her with shaking fingers, trying not to hyperventilate. "Normally, I'd be fine with falling, but this isn't how I want to die!"

"Shut up and quit squirming," Nate bawled, clutching her stomach with tight arms when the eagle started soaring towards the sky. "GAAAAH! It's going UP!"

"Hold on and don't move," the girl shouted, digging her fingers into the feathers. "We can do this! We can do this! I think!"

Lifting her violet eyes with a stricken expression, the albino once again took in the wide, dull expanse of the sea in an attempt to figure out why it looked so different. Unfortunately, all she could see were the tops of the waves being bathed in the moonlight: the glowing whirlpool continued to grow in size until it was practically a mile wide. The waves rose up around them in concentric rings before breaking into whitecaps. However, Kate could feel nothing of the oceanic hurricane, and soon they were too high up to see even the moonlight weaving across the storm-tossed seas.

"K-Kate!" Nathan abruptly shouted. "LOOK!"

The alarm in his voice made Kate jump, but when she followed her brother's finger... her eyes widened. A multitude of dragon-like creatures were leaping out of the whirlpool and flying into the air. The girl's eyes went blank when she saw the nine hooded creatures from before riding on them

Somehow, in that moment, she instinctively _knew _that they were coming for her.

To kill her.

The winged creatures raced from up from the sea, screeching like banshees and sending ice flowing through the pale girl's veins. Kate started shaking violently: if they didn't get away, she and her brother would be ripped into pieces.

"LOOK OUT!" Nathan abruptly shouted, eyes widening after he chanced a glance at the moon. "KATE! ABOVE US!"

Kate's head flew up and she caught a flash of weightless black fabric soaring at her before the eagle turned without warning, sending her flying to the side. Letting out a shriek, the girl dug her fingers into the feathers beneath her and hung on as tightly as she could. Her eyes went wild with terror when her legs went flying off of the eagle's back: her brother yelped and clung to her waist, dangling in an even more precarious manner.

Not even a second later, something dark seared past the giant eagle's side.

Then it fell away towards the ocean.

The albino girl shuddered and tried not to vomit when the creature righted itself.

When she was once again sitting on its back, her stomach flipped and she started panicking.

"What _was_ that thing?! Another dragon?!" Nate bellowed. "It almost slammed into us!"

"Yeah, but where did it go?" Kate squeaked, peering into the darkness. "I don't see it!"

As if she had called it, another dragon unexpectedly came ripping towards them out of the shadows.

It wasn't until the last second that she spotted the wraith on its back: a long, crooked black sword was being held towards the sky in a familiar pose.

"Oh, my God!" Nathan cried, mouth dropping open in fright and smacking the eagle's back. "MOVE! FLY! FLY! HURRY!"

However, with a force that made her joints crack, Katie's knees abruptly clamped to the beast's sides on their own accord and an icy sensation crawled up her spine: Kate let out a shriek when her body peeled itself from the eagle's back, tiny hands releasing its feathers and arms preparing for battle.

Nathan's face paled when the ghostly woman once again appeared.

She was literally outlining his sister's form.

The girl drew the sword she'd been given against her will, pink eyes filling with tears.

"Kate!" Nathan barked, making her flinch. "What are you doing?!"

"I'm not doing _anything! _My body is moving it's own!" Kate wailed, struggling to stop herself from moving any further; the girl's arm continued to extend, holding out the sword with her right hand and gripping the eagle's feathers with her left. "Nathan! Help, what do I do?! I don't want to kill it!"

Her desires were ignored.

When the two beasts closed on each other like storms about to collide, Kate let out an earsplitting scream: just as the dragon dove past the bird, her sword deflected the crooked black one and sliced into the beast the Nazgul was riding on. The hooded monster let out an ear-splitting screech when the Fell Beast let out a death roar. The girl instantly closed her eyes, feeling sick to her stomach. However, the moment her eyes closed, her arm stopped moving and the sword halted its motion. Nate blinked when the redheaded apparition manipulating his sister froze and seemed to struggle violently.

"Open your eyes!" the eagle commanded. "Tauriel cannot defend you otherwise!"

"No!" Kate shrieked, shaking her head. "Just make this nightmare stop! Let me wake up already!"

"Do it, Katherine!" Nate cried, clutching her arm. "Just do it!"

When she refused, the eagle veered around in a circle and doubled back.

Kate did nothing but keep her eyes shut.

She was _not_ going to cause anymore death! If shutting her eyes stilled the sword, she would blindfold herself if she had to: nothing would stop her from fighting against the ghost trying to possess her.

When the eagle swerved to the left, however, a muffled thud met their ears.

Kate and her brother were instantly thrown forward so roughly that it was almost as though the beast had collided with a wall. Then she heard the screech of a wounded bird and before she could grasp what was happening, the giant creature flipped over in the air with an arrow sticking out of its body. Kate's legs immediately lost their grip and quite suddenly... nothing was beneath her.

Her stomach flipped maddeningly.

"Huh?" she whispered, expression going blank as the world tilted upright. "What...?"

"GYAAAAAAHHHHH!" Nate screamed, clutching her waist with terrified eyes as the two of them fell away from the eagle. "KAAAAAAATE!"

Katherine's mind went blank as she and her brother began to fall towards the earth in what felt to her like slow motion: her violet eyes stared vacantly at the sky, thigh-length hair billowing around her frame like a cloud of platinum. Her arms slowly stretched out toward the stars looming endlessly in front of her, almost as if she were trying to grab one.

In that moment, she had a brief moment of clarity and calm.

Then time resumed to normal and they fell towards the thundering ocean below.

Katherine couldn't even scream: her eyes were huge as she and Nathan plummeted towards a surface that was so far down they couldn't even see it. The wind tore at their clothes and their hair so much that it caused their bodies to turn, spiraling with an odd sense of centrifugal force.

"Kate!" Nathan yelped, breath sounding thin and high. "I'm slipping! Help!"

Katherine couldn't react, and unfortunately, when they started spinning in the air faster than either of them could handle, Nathan's grip on his sister was torn away and he went flying in a different direction, screaming hysterically. As Katie plummeted towards the ocean so far below, her vacant eyes fell upon yet another cloaked figure riding another giant dragon. When it screeched at her, her arm cracked itself forward and swung the sword: she felt the impact of steel against steel as she deflected being skewered by the wicked-looking weapon it was holding just before she went flipping out of sight once again.

And it was only then that her mind registered what was really happening.

The girl let out a horrified scream as she tumbled down towards the sea.

Then there was nothing: no sight, no sound, no taste or touch or thought.

Only the sensation of falling through an endless night.

She slammed into the ocean headfirst and instantly tried to take a breath of air, which only caused a large amount of salt water to flood her nostrils and choke her. Her first coherent thought was to get back to the surface and take a deep breath before she drowned-but the girl soon realized that she was caught in the middle a raging ocean current.

Even though her clothes were weighing her down, Kate frantically struggled to kick her way to the surface. Before she could make it there, however, the current violently dragged her deep under the water and sent her tumbling around like crazy.

She floundered as the salt burned her eyes and roared down her throat.

Then her head unexpectedly broke the surface.

The albino girl just managed to take a breath of air and let out a short-lived shriek before a monstrous wave slammed down on her, sending her spinning down beneath the waves a second time. She was thrown around beneath and above the water so many times that she lost count of the jarring blows. By the end of it, she couldn't feel her body... not even when the waves slowly eased up.

Eventually, she registered that there was something grainy beneath her, but by the time the battering had finally ended, the poor girl was partially unconscious.

Katherine lay still for what felt like hours, staring up at the black sky with dazed eyes that didn't fully connect to her mind. She could hear the sound of crashing waves... she could feel the spray of the ocean on her face... but she couldn't process any of it at first.

When she had the energy to move, she slowly turned over on her side and raised her head.

She had been washed onto a sandy beach with her legs half in and out of the water. A big wave broke against the shore, washing sand from tendrils of her silver hair. Her whole body hurt: the ache in her arms was excruciating, her legs felt as though she'd just run from Molly's house to the school ten times over, and her head was pounding with a migraine.

And yet, somehow... despite the pain, she had survived the fall into the ocean.

When the girl tried to crawl back to her feet, her muscles were so stiff that she could barely move, so she lay back down and waited. When feeling returned to her limbs, she carefully sat up and dusted the sand off of her chest: her right hand was still gripping the hilt of the sword, so she apparently hadn't dropped it even during her fight to stay alive in the raging ocean.

She examined the rest of her body and found no major injuries aside from the scratches and bruises that Molly had given her the previous day. It was really nothing out of the ordinary, so she ran her hands across her face and shakily stood up.

However, when she looked down at her soaked school uniform and saw the bloodstains on her sleeves, her stomach lurched. The memories of how she'd gotten them came back with a wave of nausea, and before she could control her stomach, she vomited onto the sand.

Choking, she frantically crawled into the ocean.

The water was cold enough to cut her in two, but her only desire was to wash the bloody filth from her face and hands. By the time she had returned to her senses, she was shivering so badly she could do little more than crawl. When she made it back on solid ground, she burst into tears: she wept with fear and revulsion, wept until her voice was hoarse, until there were no tears left inside to come out.

Then she merely stared off into space with the pain of her own actions slicing her heart to shreds.

She had killed another living creature.

She had become a murderer... just like the people who had killed her sister.

During the peak of Emily's funeral, Kate and Nate had both been completely alone in the church: nobody had come aside from them because nobody had really cared about their family in the first place. The two of them had been standing in front of their sister's coffin, crying their eyes out with nobody to hold but each other... and around that time, both gangs had showed up in black clothes.

With their hands raised and police officers behind them.

Apparently, someone who'd been on the street had seen Emily go down and also recognized one of the people riding in one of the cars... that person had given just enough info to the police to find the location of the people who'd killed their sister. The culprits had been arrested, but after being sentenced and thrown in jail, they'd been forced to attend Emily's funeral by the courts.

Every single man who'd walked in had looked sullen and angry until Kate and Nate had stormed up and started beating on their legs. They had screamed and cried for a long time, calling all of those men _murderers_ and demanding that they bring their sister back.

They had screamed and cried, had held each other, but nothing would ever bring their sister back.

And by the time those men were taken away, every single one of them had either turned a sickly shade of green or bone white. Because whether they'd wanted to admit it or not, they'd murdered a teenage girl and completely shattered a family that had already been broken several years before.

And now... Kate was no different from those men.

She had killed a living creature, intentional or not.

_Evil _or not.

After all, who was she to pass judgement?

She didn't have the right to give a death sentence, let alone perform one herself!

After a few more moments of staring off into space, she sat up again and surveyed her surroundings.

A pine forest was crowded behind the shore, but it didn't seem like anything living was close by. There was nothing foreboding lurking in the forest... but at the same time, there was nothing friendly, either. When Kate had slipped off the eagle's back, it had been completely dark.

Now, in the distance, a faint glow marked the rising sun.

Apparently, she had been a castaway for more than a few hours.

"Nathan must have gotten lost," Kate whispered in a small voice, biting her lip in anxiety. "He fell into the sea, too... maybe he's around here somewhere? I should go looking for him... right? But wait... when you get lost, you're supposed to stay right where you are, aren't you? Does that even apply to a situation like this? I'm not sure about anything anymore... what am I supposed to do?!_"_

After a moment of agonizing over it, she came to the conclusion that nobody would ever find her if she wandered around on her own, so she staggered towards the forest and leaned against the stump of a tree. When Kate sat down, she leaned against the tree and closed her eyes. The world spun and she felt as though she would throw up, but at least she was alive.

Still, where was she?

This definitely wasn't anywhere even remotely close to New York... even the trees were different than what she was used to seeing. After a few minutes, her mind turned to the spirit inside her: if the woman's soul was still there, she wasn't telling... in fact, Kate couldn't feel her presence at all.

Tauriel probably wasn't going to show up unless she needed to wave the sword around.

"Wait..." Kate wondered, blinking in total confusion as something came back to her. "That psycho blonde guy called _me_ Tauriel... didn't he? If that's the case, why the heck was he looking for me if he had a ghost-thing with the same name?"

She took a long time thinking about that particular situation, but nothing about it really made sense to her: in the end, she simply gave up on it since it was probably nothing more than a very odd coincidence. After another half-hour of waiting, Kate lifted her head and nervously looked around: she could faintly recall the screech of pain that had occurred the instant before she'd fallen, and she could still see the outline of the arrow sticking out of the creature she'd been riding on.

She had left the eagle behind, completely surrounded by monsters.

Had he even survived...?

A swarm of unease immediately pressed down on her stomach and she jumped up, quelling the scream of panic that began rising inside her. After frantically looking around, the girl spotted a break in the woods not far away from her: nothing between that spot and where she was standing struck her as dangerous, so she decided to at least venture that far. Beyond the forest was a fallow field strewn with a thicket of shrubs that had been plastered against the discolored earth.

Past that field was a cliff that leaned far out over a black sea.

Kate's heart skipped a beat as she approached the edge of the cliff, long hair billowing around her body as a violent ocean wind assaulted her from the side. When she came to the edge, the girl was stricken with terror: she was literally standing on the edge of a cliff that was higher than the tallest New York City skyscraper. However it was not the sheer height of the cliff that frightened her.

It was the sight of the water below her.

The ocean wasn't blue... it was blacker than the night sky, but it looked _almost_ blue in its blackness.

As she followed the face of the cliff down into the water, she realized that the water itself was not black: it was perfectly clear, but so vast and deep that no light could penetrate its depths.

"What's wrong with this ocean?!" the albino girl cried, looking down at the sea in shock. "This isn't like any sea I've ever seen on earth, even in photographs!"

However, when the answer hit her, vertigo made her stomach fly to the top of her throat.

_Where am I...? _Kate whispered silently, dropping the sword as terror filled her large eyes; the albino girl sank down to her knees and covered her face with both hands, limbs shaking. _This is not __Earth! This is not the ocean I remember! Where the hell am I?! _  
>There was no answer from above or below.<p>

_Where did Gwendolyn go, and where is my brother? _Kate continued, swallowing. _Is he safe? I hope he didn't get hurt... Jesus, where am I supposed to go? What can I do? _

"I want to go home," Kate whimpered, staring at the ground with blank eyes; tears tumbled down her cheeks and she choked back a sob, struggling to breathe normally. She hugged her knees, buried her face in her arms, and wept. "I want to go home... I want to wake up! Someone, get me out of this nightmare!"

However, when she lifted her head again, the ocean still stretched out before her.

She felt as though she were gazing _down_ on a night sky, which was extremely unsettling.

Regardless, in time... Kate calmed down and managed to collect her thoughts and sat there staring out at the sea until the sun had risen high in the sky.

However, questions were racing through her mind.

What kind of world was this?

Where was she?

So many unanswerable things that made her want to panic.

There was Gwendolyn and the strange creatures that had attacked her school, for starters: none of them were from any species on Earth, although the birds had genuinely looked like overgrown eagles. The only thing that made sense to her was that they'd probably come from another world.

But the biggest question was _why._

And _how._

_What was that psycho thinking, bringing me here? _Kate wondered, looking at the sea. _He said it was dangerous for me to stay at school, but look at where I ended up! And why did those monsters attack me in the first place? It was like something clean out of my nightmares..._

From the moment she'd first set her eyes on Gwendolyn, nothing had made sense: her grasp on the way the world worked had been severely shaken and twisted around because of him. She had no idea what was going on, but she did know one thing: she and her brother were lost and completely alone.

He'd brought them to this strange world without sparing a second to think about their lives.

When the sun started rising and shadows began to lengthen, Kate slowly stood up and shook the rest of the sand out of her clothes: complaining about her life in silence wasn't going to solve anything, so she gripped the sword and hesitantly marched off into the forest without sparing another glance at the freakish ocean. She didn't have her coat with her, but it wasn't all that cold now.

She'd somehow ended up in place with a warmer climate than New York.

Even so, the forest around her looked like it'd been hit by a hurricane.

There were broken branches strewn all about, and entire trees had been completely unearthed. The forest wasn't all that deep, though, and when she emerged she found herself standing at the edge of a wide marsh. However, upon closer inspection, she realized that it wasn't a marsh at all: it was a field that had once been farmland. Beyond the field was a river, and beyond it was a cluster of strange-looking mountains. There were no telephone poles or power lines, no television antennas, and every single roof on the houses had been tiled in an old-fashioned manner.

The village had once been ringed by a line of trees, most of which were toppled over.

Kate pressed a hand to her chest and let out a sigh of relief: it wasn't the sight of the buildings that relieved her... it was the fact that there were most likely people who could tell her where she'd ended up. Some distance away, she spotted people working in the remains of the farmland.

She couldn't make out any details, but they didn't look like monsters.

If she ignored the complete lack of telephone poles, she could probably pretend that this was nothing more than an ordinary backwoods town. Kate hesitantly began making her way towards the people in the fields, but when she drew close to them... it rapidly became apparent they were not at all the kind of people she was used to seeing. All of the men were burly, and their hair was way longer than she was used to seeing. Oddly, the one feature they all seemed to share was their clothing style.

When she was close enough to see their individual features, the girl realized that they weren't Caucasian or even any type of foreigner she'd ever heard of: their eyes were slightly upturned and exotic, but without any Asian resemblance... and they all had unusually high cheekbones. However, the weirdest part was their clothing: it wasn't all that dissimilar from medieval European garb.

When one of the men looked up and saw Kate, he blinked and said something to the group before pointing in her direction; after a few moments, he shouted something at her... but the girl couldn't really make it out. The eight or so men and women immediately turned and looked at her, so Kate acknowledged them with a little wave: she couldn't think of what else to do.

A burly blonde-haired man with shoulder-length hair and a roiling beard scrambled up the bank and lumbered over to where she was standing.

"Good afternoon," he stated in a deep voice, looking down at her white hair. "Are you lost, lass?"

Kate registered the question with a deep sense of relief since the guy spoke English.

She'd figured he might have said something in Asian.

Still, he had a friendly look to him, and his jade green eyes were handsome.

"Yes, I think," Kate stammered with a shaken expression. "I came from the cliff..."

"The cliff?" the man asked, furrowing his thick brows. "What do you mean?"

Kate opened her mouth and started to say she'd come from _New York_, but then she paused and changed her mind: she'd figured it would have been a good idea to explain her circumstances, but she doubted they would find anything she said believable. As she stood there trying to think of what to say, the man folded his arms and looked her up and down with a calculating expression.

"From the look of ya, you're not from around here, are ya?" he inquired, tilting his head to the side. "Are you part of the seasonal trading caravans?"

She didn't know how to respond.

"Well, um... I think so?" Kate squeaked, shrugging with a frightened expression. "I... I don't know how I ended up here..."

He stared at her with a quirked eyebrow before he noticed the sword and stiffened, eyes sharpening in an instant. His eyes then flicked up to meet hers... but after a moment of staring intensely at her irises, he twitched.

"You're an elf?" the man grunted, eyes narrowing when the girl gawked at him in confusion. "What's an elf doing in these parts?"

"Um, sorry?" Kate asked, warily stepping backwards when the burly man glared at her. "No, I'm... I'm just a regular girl."

_Why would he ask if I'm an elf? _she silently wondered, feeling uncomfortable. _Elves don't exist._

The man looked almost as if he were comprehending something that she wasn't.

That really made her nervous.

"What have you got there?" he inquired, staring at the sword. "Looks important."

"Eh? Um... it's a sword," Kate hesitantly replied, looking down at the weapon with a worried expression. "Someone gave it to me."

"Who?" the man inquired, carefully closing the distance between them.

"A man named Gwendolyn," the albino stated, taking another step back. "Is he from around here?"

"I don't know," the man stated in a low voice, looking down at her pale face. "Looks heavy, though... I'll take care of it for you."

The expression in his eyes didn't assuage her, and she didn't like the slick way he was talking now.

"It's okay," Kate whispered, clasping the sword to her chest and shaking her head. "All I really want to know is where I am. What is this place?"

"This is Eriador..." the blonde giant explained, leering at her with an unsettling gaze, "and quite frankly, I don't want an elf like you waving a dangerous thing like that around... especially if you don't even know where you are. Now, hand it over."

"I don't think I should," Kate protested, swallowing. "I... don't think it's a good idea."

"Hand it over to me!" the man barked, making her flinch backwards in fright; Kate blinked several times like a startled owl before hesitantly holding out out the sword. She flinched when the giant snatched it from her and examined it. "I knew it... this is Elven work! Ancient, at that! And the sheath has the insignia of Rohan on it... an enemy kingdom! Still want to deny what you are, little spy?"

Kate didn't even notice that another man was slowly creeping behind her.

When the blonde nodded at him, the one who'd snuck around the albino abruptly wrapped a thick arm around her neck and grabbed her wrist, easily twisting the slender limb behind her back. Katherine yipped and struggled to move, but the attempt merely sent several jolts of pain surging through her nerves: she felt hot breath on the side of her cheek, making her shiver.

"Stop it!" Kate squeaked, struggling to breathe. "Please, stop! You're hurting my arm!"

"Shut up," the man sneered. "Be a good girl until we figure out who you're working for."

The albino girl's eyes widened when her body filled with cold energy, and quite suddenly she was moving against her will yet again. She twisted her wrist in a professional manner and bent the man's thumb before ducking out of his grasp and nailing him in the throat with a fierce hand-chop. With an impossible amount of speed, Katie whipped around and snatched the sword out of the other man's hand before leaping away from him.

"Leave me alone!" Kate shrieked, knees shaking and eyes large with terror. "Why are you doing this?!"

"I knew it! The elf is a spy!" the blonde snarled, looking at the other men. "Seize her at once!"

"No!" Kate whimpered, glancing around with a terrified expression; more people were gathering around them, but when the stranger took a step towards her, the girl drew the sword. "No! Stop! Don't come any closer!"

"She drew the weapon!" the man hissed, narrowing his eyes. "This is a declaration of war..."

Kate eyed them with a wary expression and hesitantly backed way.

However, the moment she turned to run, a redheaded woman charged forward with an enormous shovel in her hands. When she let out an angry war cry and hefted the weapon, Kate felt her throat lock up since her arms began to lift the sword of their own accord.

"No... NO!" Kate shrieked, staring at the woman with enormous eyes. "DON'T COME ANY CLOSER!"

The woman didn't falter.

"STOP, TAURIEL!" Kate screeched, squeezing her eyes shut as the sword came down. "DON'T KILL HER!"

There was a loud crunching noise: she heard several gasps, but then there was nothing but the sound of a woman crying beneath her. When Kate dared to open her eyes again, tears dripped onto the terrified woman's face: the blade had been caught by the wooden handle of the shovel.

Without another word, Kate jerked the weapon free and bolted.

"Don't follow me!" she wailed, sprinting away at top speed. "Leave me alone!"

However, the command went ignored.

Not long after she broke the treeline, someone came charging after her on horseback, tearing past the group of villagers. Kate could hear him coming, but she shrieked when he gripped the back of her blazer and yanked her off her feet. Her eyes widened and she flailed as she dangled above the ground.

"Don't worry, milady," an elderly male voice chuckled, startling her severely; when she twisted her head, the girl found herself staring at an old man with white hair, a grey beard, and the brightest blue eyes she'd ever seen. He was clothed in a grey robe and a pointed hat, and he was smiling in a somewhat carefree manner despite the shouts that erupted behind them. "There will be time for explanations later. I've come to find you on behalf of my good friend, Gwaihir."

"Who are you?!" Kate croaked, kicking her legs until he set her on the back of his horse. "And who is... Gwaihir?"

"My name is Gandalf the Grey, dear child," the old man chuckled, leaning forward into the movement of the horse. "Gwaihir, however, is a most curious being who made an even more curious statement about _you._"

"Please put me down!" Kate groaned, feeling as though she were getting a migraine. "Please!"

The old man merely chuckled and didn't respond.

So, in the end, Kate was left dangling on the back of a horse with no clue as to what the hell was going on. Sooner or later, not knowing anything would probably become normal for her... because even though she didn't yet know it, she had arrived to a place that was merely thought of as fiction where she was born and raised. This place held more wonders and terrors than anything she could have ever imagined. This place was the source of every nightmare she'd had for the last six months.

Maybe even beyond that.

So, where exactly was this place?

Well, Katherine didn't yet know it, but she had been dragged clean into a world where nothing was familiar.

A world called Middle Earth.

Now, what's that phrase that all the Disney movies start with?

Oh, that's right.

Once upon a Time.

But in this case... I think we should switch it up a little.

So...

Once Upon a Ring... a girl fell down a hole of sorts and somehow found herself in a strange new world...


	9. Chapter 8: A Whole New World

**PART TWO: MIDDLE EARTH**

"Wherever there is Light, Darkness will be lurking nearby."  
><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong>-<strong>********************Edgar Allen Poe**********************-************

* * *

><p><span><strong>Chapter Eight:<strong> **A Whole New World**

"U-um, sir?!" Kate cried, clinging to Gandalf's robes with shaking muscles since the movement of the horse kept throwing her around, "can we please stop this thing and take a break?! All I want to know is what's going on here!"

"I'm afraid there's no time for that," the old man chuckled, making her wince. "Someone needs my help."

"Who?!" Katherine yelped, biting her lip. "Who could possibly need your help?"

"Someone of great importance," the grey-clad man laughed, speaking in a gentle manner. "You'll soon see, child, so do not fret."

The albino girl swallowed and looked around: they were riding along the beach she'd first woken up on, but they were going in the opposite direction now. However, when the man steered his steed through a small copse of trees, an explosion of feathers and a deafening animal screech made the horse rear and start bucking with no warning whatsoever.

Kate flailed and struggled to hold onto Gandalf, but her grip was torn free after only a few moments and she went flying off the horse's back. She landed on her side with a squeal of pain, but that was the least of her worries: in front of her was the eagle she'd been riding on.

It was lying on it's back with an enormous arrow sticking out of it's abdomen.

The girl's shoulders stiffened when it's large yellow eye fixed on her.

Her eyes widened as she slowly stared at the injured creature: his tawny feathers glistened in the sun as he twisted and writhed, letting loose some deafening bird squalls. The eagle still hadn't lowered his gaze from hers, and his yellow eyes were almost angry.

"Oh, God," she whimpered, staring at the arrow with horrified eyes. "Is it... is it going to be okay?!"

Anything else she could have seen was obliterated by Gandalf stepping in front of her.

"We shall see..." the robed man chuckled, causing Kate to fall backwards with a squeak. "Oh, dear..."

After parting her messy white hair like a curtain, she glanced up at him with a pale face.

His eyes were a stormy blue-grey-like the Atlantic ocean on a rainy day.

She nodded silently, but flinched backward when the old man offered her a hand. She was utterly confounded as to why he would still be helping her, but after searching his face for any trace of trickery she decided she could trust him a little. Once she'd taken his hand and was standing upright, he saw her school outfit and quirked a brow.

"Thanks for everything you did, but I-I, uh..." she whispered shakily, turning to walk away. "I should be going now."

"May I ask why you are dressed so peculiarly?" the old man asked, narrowing his eyes at her. "I've never seen such strange garb before, even amongst the Elves... and that, my dear, is something I find to be quite unusual."

_There it is again,_ she silently noted, feeling highly uncomfortable. _Elves... everyone keeps talking about elves, but for Christ's sake, they don't exist. Did I somehow end up in a weird country with people who cosplay a lot or something?_

"What do you mean?" Katherine demanded, turning to leave. "This is the uniform for Ivy Ridge Academy, you weirdo."

"Weirdo?" the man repeated, staring at her receding back in confusion. "What an odd word."

"Quite the contrary, I think it's just you who's odd," Kate grumbled. "You're acting like... like..."

The girl froze when her mind finished the sentence.

_Like someone from another time._

It was in that moment that a terrible suspicion dawned on her and she spun around again, looking at the man much more carefully. Her already-pale face drained of the little color it had as she took in his appearance: he was wearing black and grey robes, but there was a staff in his hand and an oddly-pointed hat on his head... complete with a small buckle. He was dressed up as a wizard, and normally, that would have made her laugh... but a mythological beast was writhing in pain directly behind him.

Plus, in a way, his outfit looked way too authentic for a mere cosplay.

"Are you a _wizard?"_ Kate squeaked in alarm, eyes becoming huge. "Like, a _real_ one?!"

"Of a sort," the man replied, staring at her with a frown, "although, it shouldn't be very surprising since I am rather well-known around these parts."

"What the _fu-_?!" Kate began to shriek, then cut herself off by forcing a shrill laugh out of her throat and started shaking. "Okay, u-um, all good stories are long, and mine's pretty long, too, so I'll see you later! I've got to go find my brother now, so, uh... bye!"

"My dear, you haven't answered my question," the man called, chuckling in amusement when she began to walk away. "I would very much like to hear your response."

Kate reluctantly looked over her shoulder, shaking involuntarily.

She really didn't know what was going on yet, but as far as she was aware, she definitely _wasn't _in Kansas anymore. Until she got a good grasp on the situation, she didn't want to deal with any medieval-looking loonies, especially since she was oh-so-obviously witch material.

Being burned at a stake could become a very big possibility if she claimed to have traveled back in time. Even more so since she had uncontrollable visions that popped up at random.

All in all, Kate figured that if this was all real, she'd ended up in some very serious trouble.

"Like I said, it's long story-and I honestly don't want to explain myself to a complete stranger! So, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to head back to, um..." Kate trailed off and unsuccessfully tried to mask her fear as she looked around. "Okay, enough is enough! Will someone please just tell me what's going on?! Where the hell am I, and where the heck is my brother?! Why am I here?!"

"I'll tell you where you are," the robed man smugly offered, "if you tell me where you attained those unusual clothes."

"Blackmailing jerk!" Kate snapped, glaring up at him with folded arms. "Fine! But only if _you _tell _me _something more important first: who _are _you?"

"I am Gandalf the Grey," the man calmly explained, smiling right back at her with a twinkle in his eyes. "That is all you need to know."

"Then you don't need to know my life story," the girl retorted, turning around to walk away. "Goodbye."

"Please, my dear... at least tell me why you are dressed so strangely before you go," he sighed, appearing in front of her out of nowhere. "That, and your name."

"How did you do that?!" Kate whispered, staring at him with enormous unblinking eyes before she whirled around; he was no longer standing where he'd been a split second ago. "What the hell?! How?! What the heck is going on around here?!"

"I will explain everything once I understand the situation myself," Gandalf gently replied, making the girl frown at him. "At the moment, I'm afraid I don't understand much more than you, but I won't deny that I'm curious about who you are."

Kate weighed her options with a pale face: she felt more than a little sick, but she eventually gave in.

"My name is Katherine," the small girl muttered, shakily gesturing down at her clothes. "Where I come from, this is the standard outfit for girls who want to learn new things."

"I see," the man murmured, staring at her with raised eyebrows, "and, where _are _you from?"

"That's not important," Kate muttered, shaking her head with a dejected expression. "The problem is that I have absolutely _no_ idea how to get back there, and my twin brother got lost on the way here."

"I see..." the man repeated, sliding his arms into his sleeves with a frown. "A fairly interesting story."

Kate was perturbed by his unaffected reaction.

Instead of being shocked, he seemed to be taking her explanation well.

"So, what now?" the albino girl asked, brushing her damp skirt free of some more sand. "Can I go?"

"Please, just wait a moment... I must attend to Gwaihir," the so-called-wizard sighed, hurrying over to the flailing eagle. "This shall only take a moment."

"Okay, but... where am I exactly?" Kate inquired, uncertainly folding her arms before following him over to the beast. "Also, where did this big guy come from?"

"The Great Eagles have no beginning, unless it lies with the creation of Middle Earth itself," Gandalf murmured, climbing on top of the creature's stomach and gripping the arrow, "and if they have an end, it will be when this world perishes, for they suffer as the land does. They, the dwarves, and a few others are the true inhabitants of this land. They lived here before all others: their world was unchanging until the first elves sailed over the sea on their silver ships."

Kate blinked and did an extreme double-take.

"Elves? Dwarves?" she asked, cocking her head to the side in total disbelief. "That guy you saved me from called me an elf... but I honestly thought he was just crazy. I mean, elves don't exist, and neither do dwarves, aside from in fairy tales... same goes for wizards and giant eagles. They're all myth!"

Not exactly comforting since at least one of those myths was flailing around only a few feet away.

"My dear, are you certain you do not want to tell me where you're from?" Gandalf inquired, staring at her; the girl backed up a step and swallowed when his eyes grew shockingly intense. "Anyone, no matter who they are, would think you mad for saying something like that."

"This is so backwards," the girl whispered, clutching her hair with both hands. "Are you seriously saying that they exist?! That they're real?!"

"Of course they are," Gandalf snorted with a look of firm amusement. "Dwarves and elves have been around long before humans ever settled down in these lands."

Then, lowering his eyes to the arrow, he tensed his shoulders and heaved it out of the eagle's chest. The animal screeched so loudly that Kate covered her ears, but after a moment she felt guilt washing over her: he had gotten injured because she'd refused to listen to his instructions. Then again, the moment she remembered the wraiths, her legs started shaking all over again.

"Hey," Kate stammered, sidling closer to the grey-robed man and watching as he held his staff against the wound on Gwaihir's chest. "Is he going to be okay? What was he hurt with?"

"A poisoned orc arrow," Gandalf muttered, closing his eyes when the knob on his staff began glowing with white light; Kate gasped and stared at the wood, but then her eyes flicked to the injury on the animal's body. It was slowly beginning to close, and the flesh was knitting itself back together right in front of her eyes. "I don't know where it came from, since orcs are highly unusual in these lands... then again, it seems as though today is full of unusual meetings."

"It wasn't an orc, or whatever," Kate muttered, shivering violently when the wizard looked at her. "It was a wraith riding a dragon-thing that did it."

Gandalf's face went slack and his eyes became so intense that she stepped away from him.

"What did you say?" the robed man demanded, removing his staff from Gwaihir's chest and sliding down to the ground; with haste in his steps, he hurried around to the eagle's head and started murmuring something. The creature blinked and gave a slight nod before muttering something, which made the wizard's shoulders twitch in alarm. "This is... I... I don't know what to think."

"This child is to be your charge, Gandalf," Gwaihir stated, making the girl jump in startled surprise. "I was told to ferry her to Forlindon until you arrived. I wasn't expecting a situation like this, however."

"Who was it who told you to ferry her?" the grey-clad man inquired, staring at the giant beast with unblinking eyes. "Who could command one such as yourself?"

"He is known to our kind only as the Gatekeeper," the eagle replied, closing his golden eyes. "I was told to protect this child no matter the cost."

Gandalf merely stared at him.

Then his gaze swiveled to the frightened white-haired child standing behind him.

"My dear, I truly believe that it would be in your best interest if we stayed together until I fully know what's going on," he finally stated, going back to healing the eagle's wound. "I was on my way to the Shire to see an old friend of mine until this magnificent creature plummeted from the sky."

"What if I say I don't want to?" Kate inquired, staring at him with a nervous expression. "What if I say I won't go anywhere with you? What will you do?"

The old man turned and stared at her, blinking a few times.

"Why, nothing," he said in a simple tone, making Kate do yet another double take. "I will not force you: I simply believe that it would be safer if you came with me. Something about this reeks of an ill-fated omen, and I find it highly alarming that such an event is occurring now, of all times. It's a very odd coincidence indeed... and did you not mention that you have a brother who went missing?"

"Yes, I did!" Kate stammered, eyes lighting up with worry when she thought of Nathan. "When we fell into the sea, my brother and I got separated!"

"Well, perhaps you'll have a better chance at finding him if you come with me to the Shire," Gandalf sighed, shoulders wearily slumping after he'd slid off of the great Eagle's chest; with a thunderous crash, the giant bird flipped itself into an upright position and lowered its head. "Oh, there is no need for such formality, Gwaihir..."

"I am in your debt," the creature stated fiercely, lowering its head and regarding the old man with a large golden eye. "When another day comes that you need my help, or some misfortune should befall you, send word for me. I will return this act of kindness and immediately come to your aid. I thank you."

"Not at all," the grey wizard chuckled, blue eyes twinkling in amusement. "I just did what any old wizard would do."

Gwaihir nodded once before he turned and spread his wings.

Kate covered her face when they came down, because the movement was accompanied by a blast of wind that nearly sent her flying off her feet. A few more flaps and the eagle was taking off, flying majestically into the air and out over the ocean she'd fallen into.

By the time he disappeared from sight, the sun was high in the sky.

"What now?" Kate wondered, shivering as she looked around. "How am I supposed to get home?"

"We'll find a way," Gandalf soothed, holding out a hand with a crooked smile; the girl's eyes widened with a jolt and she had a flash of Miss McKinley grinning at her, which made her heart churn almost painfully. "Come along, my dear... my wagon isn't very far away from here."

Katherine stared at him, not knowing what to do... so, before she could let herself think, feel, or do anything at all, she silently took his hand.

"Fair warning," the albino girl mumbled, averting her eyes, "I don't trust you."

When he shook her hand and let out a laugh, she stared at him in total confusion.

"Pleasure to make your acquaintance," Gandalf trilled, giving her a pleasant smile. "Follow me."

When he left her side and wandered through the trees, she didn't know if she wanted to follow him... but against her better judgement, she followed him anyway and felt kind of amazed when she found herself staring at a small wooden cart with a dark-brown horse snacking on the abundant grass. When Gandalf slid onto the front of the wagon and patted the wooden seat beside him, she was uncertain about whether she should get up there.

Her school uniform fluttered in the breeze as she stared at the horse.

"That thing won't tip over, will it?" she hesitantly asked, looking at the wooden wheels with large eyes. "It won't break, right?"

"Not at all," Gandalf chuckled, giving her a nod. "I've used this cart for many years, and it's never lost a wheel. Not even once."

Kate still had her doubts, but she decided to just go along with it and climbed onto the wagon, sliding onto the seat beside the old man. With a flick of the reigns and a small laugh from the wizard, the cart took off along the grass and Kate clutched her skirt with tense fingers.

_I hope Nate is all right,_ she silently whispered, looking at the enormous green trees with curious eyes. _This place is so colorful... even the sun is colorful._

"Where exactly do you come from, Katherine?" Gandalf asked, quirking a bushy brow when she glanced at him. "I cannot deny that I'm quite curious."

"You already know the answer to that question," she retorted, unwilling to disclose her history to him. "I'm from very, very far away from here."

"Ah..." Gandalf sighed, catching on almost instantly. "Well, do you and your brother miss your family?"

Gandalf was a little surprised to see Katherine's stoic expression change.

The wizard realized that he must have hit a particularly bad nerve since, for a split second, he thought he saw an alarming amount of pain flash behind the girl's eyes, but the odd expression was long gone before he could really catch it. He was rather surprised by how quickly she bounced back.

"Aside from Nathan, I don't _have_ a family," Katie quietly replied. "There's nobody for me to miss."

"That's a respectable answer," he murmured, leaning back and staring at the sky. "Although... not a very pleasant one."

For a long time, the two of them sat side by side together in silence: the only sounds were the creaking wheels of the wagon and the the horse clopping away in front of them.

"It's because I'm scared that I'm acting mean," Kate finally admitted, looking up at the sky with hollow eyes. "Just ignore me if I get crabby."

"We're all afraid of something," the wizard stated kindly. "Whatever you've experienced must not have been very easy, especially since Gwaihir is involved... I never would have imagined I'd lay eyes on a Great Eagle like this. Their kind only show themselves when a great change is about to take place. Or, when an old wizard finds himself in a pinch."

Kate winced and lowered her eyes when he winked.

"What's the name of this place?" she asked in a tense voice, staring at the ground when he looked at her. "This world, I mean."

Gandalf's eyes sharpened and he stared a little more intently.

"My word, how could you not know a thing like that?" he inquired, pulling a pipe out of his robes and lighting it. "You are a very curious girl indeed."

_If I'm going to get anywhere with him, _Kate silently muttered, _I'm probably gonna have to lie. _

There were plenty of things she could say, but she decided to go with the simplest.

"I don't... remember," Kate stammered, finally coming up with a decent excuse. "I don't remember much of anything aside from my twin brother: all I know is that somehow I ended up falling into the ocean, and when I woke up, I was all alone. I can't remember anything."

"What do you mean?" Gandalf asked, looking ahead of them with serious blue eyes. "Did you suffer an injury to your head?"

"I don't know," Kate stated, trying to keep the lie going; her face was twitching, though, because she completely sucked at telling falsehoods. "All I know is that I can't remember much of anything aside from a few details about myself and my brother."

The old man remained silent: she could tell from his expression that he was suspicious of her explanation, but he didn't seem eager to press the situation and find out the truth. Something she was grateful for, since she didn't have a clue how she was going to explain that she and her brother had probably been kidnapped from a completely different world.

They rode together in silence for a long time, but Kate was actually quite amazed by the changing scenery: after a while, however, they stopped and Gandalf gave her some bread and cheese lunch. Not that the girl was complaining: it was actually really good despite being simple, and the cheese tasted totally different than the processed stuff she was used to back home.

After that, they climbed into the wagon once again and Gandalf flicked the reigns.

It was only when the sun started going down that he spoke up for the first time in several hours.

"We're going to be riding on through the night," he stated simply, making the girl look at him. "I have fallen a little bit behind in schedule, so I'm afraid I cannot afford to rest."

"That's fine," Kate yawned, rubbing her eyes as she looked at the forests and mountains in the distance. "Wherever I am, it's a lot prettier than where I came from... that much I can admit."

Gandalf turned his head and stared at her when she sleepily closed her eyes, head lolling from side to side with the motion of the wagon: however, his suspicious expression softened in sympathy when a rock sent her body sliding against his arm. It took the old wizard only a moment to realize that she was already asleep.

"What an odd girl," he muttered, puffing on his pipe as he eyed her. "Very odd indeed."

Truthfully, from the angle he was looking at her, she didn't really look like anything more than an exhausted child. However, normal children didn't have white hair, white eyebrows, white eyelashes, and eyes the color of the early morning sky... even her pupils were unusual, since he'd seen them contract into catlike slits several times since he'd met her.

Still, for now he planned to go along with the story she'd given him.

After all, if she was keeping quiet about herself, she probably had a good reason.

His thoughts soon drifted away from the girl beside him and landed on the people he'd been making this journey to see.

"Hard to believe Bilbo's already in his hundreds," Gandalf mumbled, glancing at the glittering sky with a sigh; when Kate drowsily opened her eyes and looked up at him with a sleep-filled gaze, the wizard smiled a little and nodded at her. "You know, my dear, I think you'll enjoy Bilbo's birthday party... after all, Hobbits really know how to throw some grand festivities."

"Hobbits?" Kate mumbled sleepily, giving the man a sleepy stare that soon began to glaze over; her eyes fluttered shut not long after. "Wait... I've heard that word before... a movie called _The Hobbit_ just came out last year. Maybe I'm dreaming about the movie... I must have fallen asleep in class again."

"Hmmm?" Gandalf inquired, feeling incredibly perplexed by her sleep-babble. "A... a movie, you say?"

"Yeah," Kate mumbled incoherently, snuggling against his arm and drooling a little. "I love these types of dreams... maybe I'll pay Mary Poppins a visit after this... I mean, I've always wanted to... dance with a... penguin..."

Her voice soon trailed off into a dazed mumble, which led to her head sliding back down against his arm since she slowly fell back asleep. Gandalf blinked at her in total confusion for a few moments, but when her silver hair slid across her pale face, he sighed and wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

Then he tilted his head back, looking at the darkening sky as he pondered the situation he'd found himself in.


	10. Chapter 9: The Shire

**Chapter Nine: The Shire**

Kate's dreams were untroubled... that much, she was certain of since there was no fear quickening her heart when consciousness finally started to descend on her. Unfortunately, the moment her mind cleared up and she realized she was lying on something hard and uncomfortable, her mind kicked in.

Pink eyes opening wide, the girl blinked rapidly and swallowed as a jolt of fright swept through her.  
>A breeze swept across her face as she slowly sat up, looking around in confusion. When she connected the dots, however, reality descended with a bang.<p>

Almost immediately after realizing she wasn't dreaming, a rational amount of fear swept through her heart: she was in a strange place that was obviously nowhere near New York City... she was currently sitting in a cart with a man who claimed to be a wizard... and her brother had somehow gone missing after they'd been kidnapped by a giant eagle.

Not to mention all of the other crazy shit that had happened.

Katie pinched herself and winced in pain.

Then she felt panicked, because if she _wasn't _dreaming, she had no clue what to think.

That's when the chilly early morning air hit her like a slap in the face.

Shivering violently, Katherine awkwardly pulled her legs up to her chin and wrapped her arms around them in an attempt to keep her lower body warm. After looking down at herself, she realized that she was still wearing her Academy uniform.

It was no longer damp, but it was filthy and somewhat crusty with salt.

"So, you're awake?" a familiar voice inquired, making her blink. "You slept for quite a long time, my dear."

Katie instantly shifted a little and sat up all the way

"W-where am I?" she croaked, huddling down in the cart and clutching her head with both hands as a terrible urge to cry overwhelmed her. "I thought this was all a dream... why am I still here?!"

"A dream?" Gandalf inquired, turning his head and cocking a wizened eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"I didn't think any of what happened yesterday was real," Kate stated simply. "I can't wrap my head around it."

"Dear girl," the old man sighed, giving her an unreadable blue-eyed look, "if you happen to remember the events leading up to how you got involved with Gwaihir and managed to take possession of a sword that an Elven metal-smith crafted _thousands_ of years ago, perhaps I might be able to find a solution. I very well suspect I could use that knowledge to assess this situation and get you home."

_Tch__, whatever... _Kate silently retorted, looking out at the woods with a tired expression. _I doubt you could handle the truth without thinking I'm __bat-shit__ crazy. You're just trying to get info from me._

"I don't remember anything about that," Kate muttered, wondering if she should continue, "but... well, I do remember a little more of my past now, I-I guess."

"Is that so?" the wizard chuckled, eyes twinkling when he sat back. "Could you enlighten me, then? What do you remember of yourself?"

Instead of responding, the albino merely put out her hand and broke off a branch of wild plum that brushed against the side of the cart. Then she looked at the flowers on it through her long white lashes, eyes barely visible. The eyelash ink had washed out during her tumble into the ocean.

Now, her freakish appearance was on full display, making her wish she had more makeup.

"Why do you want to know?" she softly inquired, tossing the branch onto the street. "If this is for some casual conversation, no thanks. I'm not exactly a talkative person."

"Well, since we've become somewhat acquainted with each other," Gandalf stated simply, "we might as well get to know one another."

"Sorry, but we are by no means acquainted yet," Kate muttered, sourly shaking her head; however, after a moment, she calmed down and thought about it rationally for a moment. "But... then again, I guess a bit of conversation couldn't hurt."

"Indeed," Gandalf chuckled bemusedly, quirking an eyebrow. "I quite agree with you."

For a long moment, Kate wondered about what to say.

Then she thought of Miss McKinley and her heart tightened.

"Back home," the albino murmured, "there are probably people who are really worried about me and my brother right now. You see, I had this friend... her name was Miss McKinley and she was a sweet old lady who liked to read books. She was like my grandmother... she always took care of me."

"Oh?" the wizard inquired, sounding intrigued. "Do tell."

Almost reluctantly, Katie did as he asked: she talked about her friendship with the old librarian, and how the library had become her only sanctuary. She didn't go too deep into the subject of her history, but she told him just enough to keep the conversation going.

It was small and light.

When she finally finished speaking, however, she turned her head and looked out at the passing scenery with hollow eyes. Talking about Miss McKinley made Kate wonder what was going on back home. Were people panicking over everything that had happened at the school? Probably... but what about Erika? And Miss McKinley? Were Mr. Ross and her injured classmates all right?

They'd been in bad shape when everything had started going down.

The anxiety was killing her.

For a long time, the only sound that filled the air was the creaking of the wagon wheels and the horse's hooves as it pulled them along.

"Well, now that you've told me a little of yourself, I might as well repay the favor in kind," Gandalf finally murmured, making her glance at him in curiosity. "As you already know, my name is Gandalf... and as I've stated before, I'm a wizard. Of a sort. I enjoy a good walk now and then, I find reading to be a favorable hobby, and I have a rather distinct admiration for hobbits. They never cease to amaze me."

"Hobbits?" Kate asked, shaking her head with furrowed brows. "Um... sorry, but... what are hobbits?"

"You don't know?" the old man asked, giving her a very curious expression.

"Um, hello?" Kate grumbled, pointing at her head with a fairly sarcastic expression. "No memories?"

She hated lying, but anything was better than disclosing the truth.

She bit her tongue and choked down the unpleasant feeling it gave her.

"Ah... well, in a word, they're very small, but very rowdy, and they certainly know how to throw a good party," Gandalf chuckled, making the girl stare. "They also have an amusing tendency to build their homes underground. I'm actually on my way to visit a Hobbit named Bilbo. He's one of my oldest, dearest friends. He and his nephew, Frodo, are both sort of like _my_ Miss McKinleys, you could say."

"Is that so?" Kate droned, feeling somewhat interested. "How did you and this Bilbo guy meet?"

Gandalf chuckled and let out a slow sigh, shaking his head.

"Now that, my dear, is a very long and almost unbelievable story," the old man murmured, pulling out a loaf of bread and taking a bite of it. "In truth, we probably never would have met had these lands not been plagued by a terrible dragon."

Katherine instantly did a double take and stared at him with huge eyes.

"Did you just say _dragon_?" she demanded, not believing her ears. "Seriously? There are _dragons _in wherever the hell this place is?!"

"Well, not anymore," the wizard chuckled, blue eyes glimmering with interest when he noticed her stunned expression. "We defeated the last in a terrible battle long, long ago."

Thus, the old man began to tell her about the desolation of a dragon named Smaug.

Kate was startled to hear the familiar-sounding names and things coming out of his mouth.

Mostly because a lot of what she was hearing was actually familiar.

Some of it she'd seen in movie previews during the scarce moments when she got to watch television, and even worse, The Hobbit trilogy was still plastered all over the movie theaters back in New York. If she really was in some alternate universe or something, was there possibly some connection between this place and the world she had come from? She didn't know, but the thought was disquieting.

During the story, however, Kate reluctantly felt herself becoming more and more awed.

Even if the man was a quack and had never really experienced half of what he was saying to her, he definitely knew how to tell a damn good tale. During some accounts, she literally had to hold her hands together because of how intense what he was depicting had become. It made her wonder if he had seen the movies himself and had simply decided to try and pick on her.

Even so, by the end of his tale, the sun was high in the sky and everything around them was glowing green.

For several moments, the girl merely stared at the smiling old man with an open mouth.

"And you're saying," she slowly demanded, shaking her head in shock, "that you all really managed to bring that beast down?!"

"Of course," he replied, giving her a knowing nod; then his face seemed to age twice as much and sorrow filled his eyes, "although, not without some rather heavy and painful losses..."

"What do you mean?" Kate asked with a blink. "Heavy and painful losses?"

"Some very dear friends were lost to us in that battle," the old wizard gruffly explained, gentle demeanor hardening as his eyes stared off into the distance; he almost seemed to be looking into the past... she somehow got that impression from him. "Very dear friends indeed."

Kate knew better than to press the subject.

So, going against her quiet nature, she decided to change it.

"You said something about Bilbo's nephew before you told me that story," Kate stated uncertainly, letting out a sigh of discontentment. "What's he like?"

Gandalf was quiet for a moment.

"He's a good lad," he stated after thinking about it. "He's probably waiting for me as we speak, in fact... we're almost to the shire, so you'll be meeting him soon."

"When will we be able to go find my brother?" she asked, finally unable to stay silent. "It's been a whole night... he could be lost like I was!"

"Once we arrive at the Shire, I'll send word to some friends so they may search the area where you were found," Gandalf promised, looking at the bend in the road with brighter eyes. "We'll find your brother, my dear, you have my word. Plus, you must be tired after having such an experience... so, once we arrive, I've decided to make sure you have clean clothes, a warm meal, and a place to rest."

Kate blinked in surprise before letting out a huff.

_Can't look a gift horse in the mouth, _she silently muttered, then fell back against the cart, folding her arms in a sullen manner. _Wish I could just figure out what the hell is going on around here._

Her irritation spiked when the old man started humming in a terribly off key manner and steered his horse off the road. The humming continued for a while, but eventually, she managed to tune it out for the most part. Not completely, since it was like having a fly buzzing in her ear, but for the most part. However, when they came into a glade and rounded a bend of thorny bushes, Katherine gasped and straightened upright.

The path was about four or five hundred yards long and completely arched over with huge, wide-spreading apple-trees: overhead was one long canopy of fragrant bloom. Streaking through the boughs were long, golden shafts of light, and far ahead, a small a glimpse of a painted blue sky shone like a window at the end of a cathedral aisle. Its beauty seemed to strike the teenager dumb: she leaned back in the carriage, small hands clasped before her, face lifted rapturously to the splendor that had appeared out of nowhere.

"So pretty," she whispered, slowly staring at the luxuriously green and growing trees all around her. "I've never seen such a beautiful forest. Honestly."

Gandalf merely chuckled and continued humming, albeit with a small smile on his face.

However, when the old man steered the horse back onto another road, they quickly came into a lighter area. Kate looked around when they started through another beautiful woodland area: it was almost unbelievable how green everything was. Unfortunately, Kate also caught sight of someone running down a hill towards them on Gandalf's side.

She was just about to alert the wizard to his presence when he smirked. She blinked and huddled down when the stranger stopped running just as they were passing between a natural ditch in the road.

Almost indignantly, he folded his arms and Gandalf pulled the carriage to a halt.

"You're late," a stern-sounding voice stated.

When the blue-eyed wizard slowly lifted his head, there was a twinkle in his eye and a serious expression on his face.

"A wizard is never late, Frodo Baggins," Gandalf the Grey explained. "Nor is he early. He arrives precisely when he means to."

Kate hesitantly peered around the old man.

When she beheld a rather short, handsome boy who looked maybe a year younger than her staring at the old man with a flat expression on his face, she couldn't help but stare: his half-lidded eyes were clearly asking, '_are you finished?' _After a moment, however, Gandalf started shaking and his stoic expression melted into a fit of chuckling. Likewise, the boy atop the hill started smirking as well.

Before Kate knew what was happening, they were both laughing.

"It's wonderful to see you, Gandalf!" the boy exclaimed, swinging his arms back and jumping across the gap. "I'm so glad you're back!"

Kate squeaked when the old man fell against her since she was knocked clean off the cart; she landed on her butt and bruised her tailbone, which hurt, but thankfully, at least the old man had somehow managed to catch the boy. Slowly getting to her feet and rubbing her throbbing backside with a wince, she finally managed to see what was going on. However, she immediately averted her eyes: both of them were happily laughing and hugging each other.

Like a grandfather being reunited with his grandson.

To others, heartwarming.

To her?

Bittersweet in the worst way.

When they finally pulled away from each other, the old man stroked the side of his face.

His blue eyes gleamed as he took a good look at him.

"You didn't think I'd miss your Uncle Bilbo's birthday," he stated, giving the boy a mischievous smile. "Did you?"

"Not at all," Frodo exclaimed, giving him a smile; however, when Kate grumbled something unintelligible and started brushing dirt and grass off the back of her pleated black skirt, the boy's soulful aquamarine eyes flicked past the old man's face. "Hmm? Gandlf... who is that?"

"Oh?" the wizard inquired, looking at the seat beside him before he blinked and glanced around; when he spotted Kate standing next to the cart and grumpily attempting to get the grass stains out of her clothes, he tilted his head. "My dear, what are you doing down there?"

"I kind of got knocked off a few seconds ago," she sweetly explained, giving him a sarcastically grateful smile. "Thanks _so much _for noticing."

"Oh, dear," the old man muttered, blinking in surprise. "You weren't hurt, were you?"

"Oh, no, just landed right on my butt, that's all," she grumpily explained, wincing as she rubbed her tailbone in dismay. "I'm fine, don't worry. By all means, carry on."

"Very well, if you say so," Gandalf gently murmured, quirking a brow at her attitude; then he turned to the curly-haired youth and made a gesture in her direction, "my dear Frodo, this young lady is a young acquaintance of mine. Her name is Katherine."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss," the boy exclaimed, breaking into an infectious grin and leaping off of the cart; Katherine jumped and stepped backwards when he looked up at her and held out a hand. "Sorry about knocking you off the cart... I didn't see you, and it's been an awfully long time since I've seen Gandalf. He's a dear, dear friend to me, so I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive my rude behavior."

"U-um," Katie stammered, more stunned by the fact that he was almost four inches shorter than her than the fact that he was so polite. "I... er, okay?"

So saying, she awkwardly shook his hand, not knowing how to react.

The kid was incredibly short, almost like a midget, but thinner in a weird way.

"We should very well get going," Gandalf chuckled, lighting a long wooden pipe and making both of them glance up. "I'd hate to delay any longer."

Frodo instantly beamed and scrambled back onto the carriage before he turned and held out his hand: Katie blinked before hesitantly taking it. However, she was thrown for a loop when he tugged her clean off her feet and onto the seat: apparently, the boy was a helluva lot stronger than he looked.

Despite his stature.

Which was kind of unsettling, since Katie herself was an incredibly tiny person.

At four feet and six inches, she was almost doll-like in size.

The fact that she'd just met someone shorter than her was doing a number on her brain.

Once she was settled in, however, the cart was rather cramped: she had practically no elbow room, and she was sitting uncomfortably close to a strange boy who probably thought she smelled like a wet dog due to the events leading to her arrival.

For all she knew, she probably looked like shit: her hair hadn't seen a brush since the morning of her kidnapping, and she was literally dying to take a shower.

She felt disgusting, plain and simple.

Katherine was extremely relieved when the horse started moving again, since the passing scenery could serve as a distraction from her discomfort. More importantly, it lessened her extreme self-consciousness. The ride was silent for about ten minutes before Gandalf finally spoke up again.

"So, how is the old rascal?" he inquired, drawing Kate's attention. "I hear it's supposed to be a party of special magnificence."

"You know Bilbo," Frodo sighed, looking at the old man with laughter in his eyes. "He's got the whole place in an uproar."

"Well," the wizard chuckled, puffing on whatever it was he was smoking, "that should please him."

"Half the Shire's been invited," the boy explained, shrugging in good-natured exasperation, "and the rest are coming anyway."

After that comment, both of them chuckled as though laughing at some private joke.

Katie, on the other hand, felt her unease increase when the boy looked at her with bright teal eyes.

"So, Miss Katherine, was it?" he inquired, making the girl glance at him with a blank expression. "Are you here to celebrate Bilbo's party with Gandalf?"

"Not exactly," she stated quietly, turning away with a sigh. "I'm here because some very... er... unpleasant... events happened yesterday."

"Oh?" Frodo asked, tilting his head with a wrinkle in his brow. "What happened?"

"It was a very unfortunate accident, I'm afraid," Gandalf stated, making both of his passengers stare at him intently. "She and her brother were apparently on a very important trip when they took a dangerous tumble off a set of sheer cliffs in Forlindon. Katherine lost the majority of her memories as a result of that accident, and her brother is still missing. Once we arrive, I plan to send out some letters so people know to be on the lookout for her sibling."

"That's terrible!" Frodo exclaimed, looking at her in startled surprise. "Are you all right?"

"Do I look like it?" she asked, lifting an eyebrow before she winced and guiltily looked away. "Sorry... bad mood."

"It's quite all right, my dear," Gandalf chuckled, not glancing at either of them. "I know you're confused and probably very tired. I understand since I myself am greatly perplexed about the situation surrounding your 'accident.'"

It didn't go unnoticed that he used specific enunciation on the word 'accident' for some reason.

However, Kate simply let it go and the two males went back to chatting.

While they were talking, the horse drew them across a moss-covered bridge.

Katie's jaw dropped when she realized that the hill she'd been looking at for a while were actually houses with doors and windows. One of them, the one nearest the bridge, even had a water mill whirling in a circular manner. She felt kind of amazed after looking around more closely.

From the back, the homes blended in perfectly with the scenery.

The cart soon pulled them across a long, beautifully crafted stone bridge and clean into a bustling little village where dogs barked at them and small boys hooted and curious faces peered from the circular windows. When three more miles had dropped away behind them, neither Katherine nor Frodo had spoken.

The Hobbit could keep silence, it was evident, as energetically as he could talk.

"I guess you're both probably feeling pretty tired and hungry," Gandalf ventured as he steered them through a beautiful area full of hills, "but we haven't very far to go now... it's only another hundred yards to Bag End."

"Gandalf, wait... to tell you the truth..." Frodo stated quietly, then paused and seemed to choose his words carefully. "Bilbo's been a bit odd lately. I mean, more than usual. He's taken to locking himself in his study. He spends hours and hours pouring over old maps when he thinks I'm not looking... he's up to something."

The old man's face instantly seemed to grow older as his brows furrowed.

Taking a puff of his pipe, he slowly turned to glance at the boy.

Then he blew the smoke out and faced the road, nodding as if he understood something they didn't.

Frodo instantly grinned at him.

"All right, then, keep your secrets," he stated simply, smiling when the old man glanced at him with an expression only a teasing old man could pull off. "I know you had something to do with it."

"Good gracious, Frodo," he mumbled, giving a playfully affronted look.

"Until you came along, we Bagginses were very well thought of," the boy added, giving a firm nod. "We never had any adventures or ever did anything unexpected."

"Indeed?" the old man puttered, glancing back and forth from the road to the Hobbit with quirked eyebrows. "If you're referring to the incident with the dragon, I was barely involved. All I did was give your uncle a little nudge out of the door."

"Whatever you did," Frodo stated, giving him a simple expression, "we've been officially labeled a disturber of the peace."

When the old man's eyebrows shot into his hat and he muttered something unintelligible, Katherine cracked her first genuine smile since speaking with Miss McKinley.

After all, how could she not?

A self-proclaimed wizard had just gotten schooled by a boy who looked no older than her. It was actually rather funny. However, Kate came out of her reverie when a chorus of shouts erupted from the fields, and she looked up with startled eyes.

"Gandalf!" a little girl cried. "Gandalf!"

"Gandalf?!" more children shouted. "Gandalf!"

Katie stared in surprise when groups of small children came running down the slopes towards the road, but the old wizard didn't even turn around. Even when the children called out to him, he simply started straight ahead, making old-man faces at the road. When Frodo gave him a look, however, his face twisted and a series of crackling, swirling sparkles exploded from the rear of the wagon.

The display made the children squeal in delight, but very nearly gave the albino girl a heart attack.

The two males sitting beside her instantly shared a look and started chuckling.

Kate merely clutched her racing heart with huge eyes.

Finally, when they reached a sunny wooded area, Frodo stood up.

"Gandalf?" he sighed, smiling at the old man. "I'm glad you're back..."

"So am I, dear boy," the old man laughed, waving at him when he slid around Kate and leapt off the cart; however, his smile faded after. "So am I..."

"Miss Katherine?" Frodo called, making the white-skinned girl turn. "It was a pleasure to meet you! I hope your brother is found safe and sound!"

"T-thanks!" the girl called back, giving him a small wave when he flailed his arm and loped off. "Well... he's... um, friendly..."

"He's a good boy," Gandalf sighed, giving her a firm look. "He seemed to like you well enough."

"If you say so," Kate muttered, feeling as though her mind were overloading. "God, I'm already tired again."

"Well, we're almost there," the man sighed, lifting his staff and gesturing at a nearby hill with doors inside. "That's our destination."

They had just driven over the crest of a large hill with a road along the side: below them was a pond, looking almost like a river because of how long and winding it was. A bridge spanned it midway, and from there to its lower end, the water was a glory of many shifting hues. Above the bridge the pond ran up into fringing groves of fir and maple and lay all darkly translucent in their wavering shadows. Here and there, a wild plum leaned out from the bank like a green-clad girl tip-toeing to look at her own reflection. On their other side, gloriously green hills full of windows and doors faced them.

It was in front of one of these hills that the cart was pulled to a halt.

After a moment, Gandalf shuffled his way off the wagon and wordlessly held out his hand to her: the pale girl slowly and uncertainly reached out to take it. When he helped her down, she winced since her stomach was hurting. The girl followed him through the gate he opened, and watched as he knocked on a weird-looking round door made of painted dark green wood.

"No thank you!" a grumpy voice instantly exclaimed. "I don't want anymore visitors, well-wishes, or distant relations!"

"And what about very old friends?" Gandalf questioningly called.

Kate blinked when the sound of the door being unlocked met her ears.

Oonly a split second later, it opened and a small silhouette slowly walked outside.

The girl's amethyst eyes slowly widened when a short old man of about four feet and three inches slowly made his way outside, graying hair wild and brown eyes stunned. For several moments, he merely looked up at the wizard and blinked, but then his face lit up and he gasped.

"Gandalf?" he breathed, sounding half-disbelieving and half exalted. "Is that you?"

"Bilbo Baggins," the taller man chuckled, smiling so genuinely that Katherine could literally see the warm love in his eyes. "My dear old friend."

"Oh, dear, Gandalf!" the little old man exclaimed, spreading his arms and running forward. "It's you!"

The albino girl swallowed when the wizard sank down and embraced him.

"Good to see you," the wizard chuckled, patting his back before pulling away and examining his face. "My goodness, one hundred and eleven years old... you... haven't aged a day..."

Kate nearly choked on her own spleen upon hearing how old he was.

"Wow," she coughed, patting her throat when the two men looked at her curiously. "You're one hundred and eleven?!"

"Well, soon to be, anyway," Bilbo cautiously explained, glancing at Gandalf in curiosity. "Might I ask who you are?"

"Her name is Katherine, and she had a bit of an accident on the cliffs near Forlindon," the wizard explained. "She and her brother took a tumble into the sea. Katherine here lost a great deal of her memory and her brother has yet to be located. Also, due to a very odd series of complex events, she has been placed under my care for an indefinite amount of time. I was hoping you could provide her with some hospitality as my honored guest during the duration of my stay here."

"Oh, but of course!" Bilbo exclaimed, nodding brightly once everything had been cleared up. "Pleasure to meet you, my dear! I'm Bilbo Baggins!"

"Likewise," Katie tiredly replied, feeling more than a little tired again. "You can call me Katie."

When the little man nodded and hurried into his house, both of them stood there until he turned.

"Well, come on!" he called, waving them over. "Come inside!"

Gandalf instantly moved forward, but Katherine was hesitant.

She honestly didn't know what to do.

She was confused, lost, and somehow, most likely on a completely different world than the one she was from: her brain was still reeling from the shock. Not to mention, she'd left the sword in the cart. After turning around and wondering whether or not she should grab it, she finally brushed it off and headed over to the circular door. Nothing could erase what had already happened to her, no matter how much she wanted it to disappear. All she could do now was continue moving forward.

And that's exactly what she did.

Right up until the moment the circular door of Bag End closed behind her with a bang.


	11. Chapter 10: Whispers and Doubts

**Chapter Ten: Whispers and Doubts**

Katherine's unease couldn't be described when the large, round door was closed by the little man standing next to Gandalf. She didn't have long to ponder over it, however, because the excited Hobbit instantly turned and took the abnormally tall wizard's staff and hat.

Actually, now that she was getting a good look at him, Kate would have been inclined to say that Gandalf the Grey was quite possibly taller than seven feet. He had to stoop just so his head wouldn't hit the ceiling.

She felt like a child standing next to him.

"Welcome, welcome," Bilbo cheerfully exclaimed, pattering over to the wall and setting the old man's things down with a grin. "Tea? Or maybe something a little stronger? I've got a few bottles of the old Wineyard left... twelve ninety six! Very good year... almost as old as I am! It was laid down by my father! What say we open one, eh?"

Before Gandalf could respond, the little Hobbit ran down the hall like an excited child.

"Just tea, thank you," Gandalf called, giving a nod and turning to glance at Kate. "We have a Lady here with us, let's not forget."

Katie, on the other hand, was too stunned upon hearing Bilbo's statement about the year to feel irritated with Gandalf's comment.

"Twelve ninety six...?" Katie muttered inaudibly, swallowing even as her face paled. "But that would make the year he's talking about... no way."

The Wizard didn't seem to hear her, and if he did, it didn't show: he slowly turned to look for a place to sit, but accidentally bumped against a ceiling chandelier full of candles in the process. Eyes growing wide, the old wizard ducked under it and awkwardly lifted his arms to steady it; Kate blinked when he sighed in relief and turned, but she twitched since he walked right into a ceiling joist and smacked his forehead against it.

"Oh!" he exclaimed, touching his head in an almost comical fashion. "Ugh..."

"Are you alright?" Katie blankly inquired. "That looked like it hurt."

"I will be," the old man sighed, ducking beneath the arched banister and moving down the hall towards the sound of Bilbo's chattering voice. "Come, my dear."

"If you say so," Katie murmured, shaking her head as she followed him; however, when she walked into the room behind Gandalf and the old man moved towards a desk full of odd-looking pieces of paper, the girl decided to look around. So, that's what she did: she moved around the room and took note of every strange object that met her gaze, then examined the odd shapes of the furniture. "This place is kinda weird."

Gandalf was too busy looking at a framed object that had been lying on a nearby desk to notice her words.

The girl glanced at his furrowed brows before rolling her eyes with a sigh and moving into another room: like the previous one, the furniture was oddly shaped. The albino peered back and forth before backing away and moving in Gandalf's direction.

As she was doing so, however, Bilbo happily ran past her with a tray in his arms, babbling something about eggs. Truthfully, she wasn't really paying attention to him. On his way past, though, his shoulder brushed against her arm.

And the moment her arm made contact with his sleeve, a horrifying cat's eye wreathed in fire blotted her vision.

_She saw a face with a gaping maw, razor sharp teeth, and two glowing yellow eyes that seemed to laugh at every minuscule pain she had ever endured._

_She heard the eye's roaring laughter inside her mind and started to smell her own blood as the object of her nightmares consumed her._

_And it was in that moment that she heard a demonic voice whisper something in a silver tongue._

_"... In the Land of __Mordor__, where the Shadows lie..."_

Then the vision was gone.

Katie instantly collapsed to her knees. Shivering violently, the girl slowly lifted her hands and hugged herself with eyes that had gone blank.

_What was that?_ she silently whimpered, slowly turning her head and looking around. _What the hell WAS that?! That... thing! It was from my nightmares! But..._

Her thoughts were cut off by the sound of someone knocking on a nearby door: Bilbo instantly gasped and pressed himself against the wall before looking at Gandalf with a wide-eyed expression. The silver-haired girl swallowed and slowly climbed back to her feet, still shivering a little, but not nearly as much as before: she didn't want to have anything to do with her visions. All she wanted was to find a way back home... to the place she truly belonged.

New York City. Her home world.

Either of them would have been more preferable than a fairy-tale land where everything she'd been taught didn't exist somehow DID exist.

"I'm not at home!" Bilbo frantically hissed, making Gandalf - who had somehow managed to make his way into the kitchen - stare at him with a perplexed expression; even as she watched, the Hobbit or whatever he was tip-toed over to the window and peered outside. He instantly turned around with intense eyes. "It's the Sackville Bagginses! They're after the house! They've never forgiven me for living this long! I've got to get away from these relatives hanging on the bell all day and never giving me a moment's peace."

Kate's eyebrow twitched and she unthinkingly fired a retort.

"At least you have relatives," she sourly retorted, making the wizard and the hobbit stare at her; Katie's face instantly flamed bright red before she remembered how to hide her feelings and let her expression go blank. "I mean, I'd rather have family banging on my door and annoying me than nobody to bang at all. That's all I really wanted to say."

"Is that so?" Gandalf inquired, quirking a curious eyebrow.

"Well, of course," Kate snorted, giving him a blank stare. "Being alone and having nobody to talk to isn't as nice as people would think."

"Quite the contrary in my case," Bilbo sighed, hurrying over to a nearby counter with a sigh. "My relatives are a predictable bunch, but I want to see mountains again! Mountains, my dear! And then I want to find somewhere quiet where I can finish my book."

Kate blinked and gave him a look.

"You're writing a book?" she asked, making him look at her. "What's it about?"

"It's about hobbits," Bilbo proudly explained, puffing his little chest out. "And also about my journeys in the past, as well as the Bagginses of today! My life's work!"

"Ehh?" Kate droned, secretly feeling interested; she had a profound love for books of every variety, yet another reason why the library back home had become her sanctuary. It was full of things she'd loved dearly: her best friend, her books, and the peace that came with reading near someone you loved in comfortable silence. "I might have to take a peek at it once you're done. I love reading."

"Is that so?!" Bilbo exclaimed, beaming at her before he blinked and hurried over to the other side of the kitchen. "Oh, right! Tea!"

"So," Gandalf finally murmured, watching as the Hobbit took the kettle off a hook resting in the fireplace. "Do you mean to go through with your plan?"

"Of course," the little old man explained. "All the arrangements have been made."

"You know," Gandalf noted, watching how Bilbo blinked with a careful eye. "Frodo suspects something."

"Course he does," Bilbo stated simply, pouring the tea into three cups. "He's a Baggins! Not some blockheaded Fresgurde or Hardbottle."

"You will tell him," the old wizard began, giving him an unreadable look, "won't you?"

"Yes, yes," the hobbit sighed, moving around. "I will."

"Bilbo," Gandalf stated softly. "He's very fond of you."

Katherine blinked and furrowed her brows when the little old man's expression slackened and he stared off into space with a somewhat solemn demeanor.

For a long moment, he merely stared at the wall... but then he lowered his eyes, looking his true age for the first time that Katie had seen.

"I know," he murmured somberly, moving towards the window and seeming to become deeply sorrowful for a few choice moments. "He'd probably come with me if I asked him, but I think... down in his heart, Frodo is still in love with the Shire. The woods, the fields... the little rivers. I'm old, Gandalf. I know I don't look it, but I'm beginning to feel it in my heart."

Katherine froze when he turned around and slowly started walking towards them: a hint of the whispering voice from earlier met her ears the moment he stuck his hand in his pocket and locked eyes with the wizard. When she started shivering involuntarily, Gandalf immediately noticed: he took note of her taught expression, then followed her gaze to the Hobbit's hand.

And his own brows instantly furrowed, eyes becoming somewhat anxious.

"I... I feel... thin," Bilbo continued, sitting down in front of them with a weathered expression. "Sort of stretched... like... butter, scraped over too much bread. I need a holiday. A very long holiday. And I don't expect I shall return. In fact... I mean not to."

Before he could finish, the sound of the front door opening met their ears.

"Bilbo?" a familiar voice called, making Gandalf smirk and the old Hobbit lift his head. "Are you here?"

"Yes, Frodo, in the Kitchen!" he called, removing his hand from his pocket; then he slyly added, "with old Gandalf and a rather interesting young lady!"

The moment it was fully visible, Katherine tore her eyes away from the little man's hand and glanced at the kitchen entrance: the boy from earlier had just poked his head inside the room.

He instantly grinned and made to move forward, but the old Wizard merely gestured at Katherine, much to the albino's dismay.

"Frodo, dear boy," the old man murmured, making the youth pause. "Could you do me a favor and take Katherine here to Mrs. Figg's for a wash and change of clothes? She's had a fairly rough experience, I'm sure, and I think she could use a break. Also... after she's dressed and clean, I'd appreciate it if you could show her around the Shire while I catch up with old Bilbo here."

"Of course, Gandalf," Frodo stated, glancing at the girl with surprised eyes. "I'd be happy to."

"Katherine," the wizard murmured, giving her a gentle smile. "I know you're worried, and I understand why. We will find your brother, but until then, please allow yourself to relax and enjoy the festivities going on around you."

The girl didn't say anything.

She couldn't.

So, after getting up and moving over to where Frodo was waiting, the youth led her back out the door. However, when he walked up to the horse pulling the Gandalf's wagon, Kate remembered Gwendolyn's warning about the sword and swallowed before climbing back onto the cart. Frodo watched her with curious eyes as she dug around through the old wizard's belongings in the back; then her hand came across the familiar hilt. Despite her discontentment with the weapon, she had a feeling that she shouldn't let it out of her sight.

"Is that a sword?" the Hobbit asked, walking around and peering at the mother-of-pearl craftsmanship lacing weapon's sheath. "Are those jewels?"

"I don't know, and I don't really care," Kate curtly replied, shaking her head. "I don't like weapons... but... I can't let anything happen to this one."

"Is that so?" Frodo asked, giving her a curious expression; then he shrugged and started walking down the road. "Well, no matter! Follow me! Once we get to Matilda Figg's house, and after you've washed up, I'll show you around the shire! There are a lot of beautiful places around here, you know... such as the meadow, and the brooks on the other side of the Barry's cornfields."

"I'm more of a city girl myself," Kate murmured, looking around at the scenery, "but I have to admit, I've never seen such a green place. It almost looks like textbook photographs I've seen of Ireland."

"Ireland?" Frodo asked, turning around and walking backwards so as to keep eye contact while they spoke. "Is that where you're from? And what are textbook photographs?"

"Um... no, I'm not from Ireland," Kate snorted, lifting her eyes to the afternoon sky and sighing when a breeze brushed against her face. "I... well, I'm from very, very far away from here. A land you've probably never even heard of..."

"Do you remember much about your home?" the hobbit asked, tilting his head as he walked. "Gandalf said you lost your memories in that accident, so..."

"I... I-I remember bits and pieces," Kate lied, swallowing as her face went awry. "A-and every day, I remember more."

"Huh, interesting," Frodo murmured, turning back around and clasping his hands behind him as they walked. "I'm curious... were you different before you lost your memories? Or were you the same as you are now? Do you remember that much?"

"What kind of question is that?" the albino snorted, looking at him with a highly unamused expression. "I've always been like this."

"What about your brother?" Frodo asked. "I know you're probably worried, but maybe talking about all the good times you've had will make it easier!"

Almost immediately, Kate's face fell.

For a long moment, the two of them walked in silence... a very long moment, in fact. Frodo Baggins waited patiently for her answer, but when it was not forthcoming, he turned with his mouth already opened to ask another question.

The words died on his tongue when he saw the look on Katie's face. She was looking at the ground with a blank face, and her long white lashes hid her unusual pink eyes for the most part... but from the little he could see, he was able to gather just how unhappy his question had made her.

Frodo didn't know how to react to the girl who was so quietly treading behind him: and in all honesty, he didn't even fully know if he wanted to. She was hard to understand, and her face was almost always devoid of expression. There was also something missing in her eyes... it was something he couldn't put his finger on, but all the same, something important was missing.

Something that made her eyes seem very sad.

The two of them walked until more hilly homes and outdoor shops began coming into view.

It was then that Frodo glanced over his shoulder: the abnormally pale girl was staring at everything with curious and flickering eyes. As the hobbit led her down the road, she observed her surroundings: the houses and buildings that hadn't been built underground had been made of wood from the surrounding forests, but the roofs had been thatched with hay.

_This place is shockingly medieval,_ Kate realized, blinking at her surroundings. _I'm actually kind of amazed. It's like being at a Renaissance festival._

She felt even more amazed when Frodo led her across a wooden bridge and onto some dusty streets. However, Katie jumped when an old hobbit woman sitting on a porch stood up and started yelling at an equally small, extremely pudgy blonde man who'd said something in a low voice.

"I'm telling you, dear, I saw a dragon!" the Hobbit woman snapped, shaking her fist at her husband. "It was big as our burrow! It flew overhead last night when I was out scrounging for herbs! I only saw it because the moon was high! You have to believe me, Dear, it was a real live dragon! And I swear, I heard someone screaming as it flew past... it was chilling, darling!"

"Pumpkin, please..." the man sighed in an unenthusiastic demeanor, "the last dragon was dead and gone ages ago. If you keep on like this, everyone in the Shire will think you're going crazy!"

"Bucky!" the woman gasped indignantly, giving him an intense stink-eye. "Listen to me! I saw a dragon with my own two eyes! I swear it is so on my favorite pumpernickel bread and Wineyard brew!"

"Pumpkin, I've got better things to do than listen to more of your fantasies," the little man sighed, rolling his eyes and walking away. "I'm heading down to the fields to round up some more corn, now."

"Ugh, fine, you intolerable little man! You'll see the truth, someday!" the woman angrily called, shaking her fist. "It was a dragon, Bucky! If it comes back and starts killing us all, you're gonna feel sorry that you didn't listen to me!"

"A dragon?" Frodo wondered aloud, blinking rapidly. "Impossible..."

The boy trailed off when he turned and glanced at Katherine: she was staring at the woman with impossibly large eyes and the little color in her cheeks had vanished. Knees shaking, she took a few bumbling steps towards the woman and all but tripped halfway there.

Regardless, Kate finally found her footing and swept over to the Hobbit woman, frantically tapping her arm just as she turned to head back to her bench. The woman immediately gasped and covered her mouth in shock when the girl clutched her shoulders.

"C-can I help you?" she stammered, blinking when Kate fixed an intense stare on her. "Is there a reason why you're grabbing me?"

"Ma'am," Katherine weakly croaked, making the woman's eyes widen even further. "Did you really see a dragon?"

Her face instantly relaxed and she nodded fervently with a somewhat relieved countenance.

"Yes, I sure did!" the little old woman muttered, patting Katie's hands until she let go; then she sat down, weakly straightening her bonnet. "Bucky doesn't believe me though, and I'm not dumb enough to go shouting the news to any old hobbit that will listen. I'm telling you, though, I really saw a dragon yesterday! It was the most frightening thing I've ever seen! It was so large! And I think it got someone, too! I heard screaming!"

"Did you see what it looked like?! And was there something riding it?!" Kate asked, frowning worriedly before glancing at Frodo, who was staring at her with intense blue-green eyes. "Also, where did it fly off to? Did you catch the direction?"

"Well, as far as I could tell, it flew east, towards Bree!" the woman murmured, wincing a bit. "And it was dark, so I couldn't really make out what the beast looked like, but I could have sworn it was black. Although, as it was flying off, it let out such a horrible screech that it chilled me clean down into my bones. I never would have imagined that a dragon's roar sounded like that... it was like something out of a bad dream."

Katie swallowed hard.

"The person you heard screaming," she whispered, voice hitching high, "what did they sound like?!"

"Eh?" the woman asked, furrowing her brows. "Well, I reckon it was a male. Couldn't tell much aside from that, though."

Kate closed her eyes and took a deep breath, trying to convince herself that it hadn't been her brother and it was only a coincidence.

"Thank you, Ma'am," she mumbled, swallowing hard before she turned to walk away. "You... were right, I think. Dragon does describe that beast."

"So you believe me?" the hobbit asked, giving her an askance expression. "You really believe what I saw?"

"Yes," Kate muttered, turning away and heading towards Frodo. "If only because that creature might be one of the reasons I'm stuck here."

When she started walking again, Frodo gave her an odd look before following her.

"Why did you do that?" the boy demanded, loping up to her and giving her a serious look. "Were you teasing her?"

"No," the girl grimly retorted, giving him a sharp look that made him back off a few steps. "I seriously believe she saw what she did."

"Why?" the hobbit asked, giving her a very worried look. "She said she saw a dragon, though, and there aren't anymore of them!"

"Honestly?" Kate snorted, shaking her head, "I don't think what she saw WAS a dragon. But I know for a fact the she definitely saw something that resembled one. Something big and ugly... with leathery wings and a chilling aura."

Frodo put a hand on her arm and pulled her to a halt.

"You remember something," he said; it wasn't even a question. "Tell me."

For a long moment, Katie didn't even look at him: merely stared ahead with a taught mouth and angry eyes.

"The thing she said she saw..." the albino finally muttered, not looking at him. "I think it was one of the monsters that attacked me and my brother. I don't know why, or even how, but those creatures are looking for me. And I say this simply because if one of those creatures was seen so close to where we are right now, it isn't a good thing."

"What do you mean they're looking for you?" Frodo demanded, furrowing his brows with an incredulous expression. "Why would they?!"

"How in the flying fuck should I know?!" Kate instantly shrieked, abruptly throwing her hands into the air; the hobbit stepped back even further when she clutched her hair with both hands and turned red from the inside out. "I seriously don't know anything! My grip on how the world worked was stomped on like yesterday's oatmeal when those... those... THINGS showed up! Then those demon wraiths in their black robes came after me, and I was kidnapped by a freaky man with wings! The world doesn't make sense!"

"H-hold on," Frodo muttered, staring at her in confusion. "What wraiths? And... did you say a man with wings kidnapped you?"

"Just... wraiths! Dressed in black hoods! And yes, a man with wings kidnapped me," Kate snapped, sinking down to her knees and clutching her head with her eyes squeezed shut. "I... I don't know what to do! I've been keeping myself from panicking by thinking this is all just a bad dream, but it's gone on for too long! I'm scared! And my brother... I have to find him! I can't just sit here and do nothing! I have to find Nate before something bad happens to him! I have to!"

"Nonsense," Frodo stated simply, walking forward and gripping her under the arms; with one motion, he hauled her back up and looked at her with a somewhat stern expression. "Gandalf said he would find your brother, and he will! He's a wizard, after all... and once your brother is safe and sound, both of you are welcome to stay at Bag End as long as you want to. Let Gandalf worry about finding him."

"How can I?" the girl shakily demanded, shoulders shaking. "I don't know him like you do! What if he's just saying he'll look?! Nate could die out there!"

"He'll find your brother," Frodo soothed, smiling up at her with no doubt whatsoever in his eyes. "Gandalf may be many things, and he's definitely fond of telling people riddles, but he's never once told a lie. And any friend of his is a friend of mine... now, come! Let's get to Miss Figg's!"

Katherine's trembling froze, and for a moment... she couldn't think.

She couldn't talk.

She couldn't move.

She couldn't even breathe.

"What did you just say?" the albino girl finally asked, still completely frozen. "Did you just say you... you... want to be my... friend?"

"Eh? Of course," Frodo stated, giving her a very odd look indeed. "I enjoy meeting new people... after all, it doesn't happen every day."

"You're serious?" Kate muttered weakly, shoulders starting to shake. "You... aren't just saying that?"

"No, why would I?" Frodo asked, frowning in total confusion. "Are you all right?"

"Maybe not right now," the pale girl murmured, shrugging a little before she continued walking down the road, "but... I think I will be."

_Friend?_ Kate dazedly wondered, clutching her chest and lifting her eyes to the clouds. _He... wants to be... my friend?_

When Frodo loped past her, something rose up inside her heart. She followed him as he led her towards a warm-looking house.

Then he happily started asking some more questions, completely ignoring the eye-rolling that followed.


	12. Chapter 11: Of Sun and Rain

**Chapter Eleven: Of Sun and Rain**

As it turned out, Miss Matilda Figg was a freckled old hobbit with big blue eyes and bigger spectacles that only enhanced just how _big_ her eyes were.

She was also deaf.

Meaning, Kate was kind of in a sticky situation since Frodo had literally just dropped her off at the woman's clothing shop, made a promise to check up on her later, and left. She supposed he'd gone back home to get ready for his uncle's birthday party, but that didn't make her feel any less awkward about being near such a small, loud, overly observant old lady who couldn't even hear half of what she was saying.

She had, thankfully, somehow managed to get Gandalf's message about a bath and a change of clothes across.

Unfortunately, that had only led to some criticism on her current appearance.

And this, my friends, is the situation our heroine was currently stuck in.

"How did you end up getting your outfit so messy?" Matilda loudly crabbed, holding up dress after dress and pressing them against the albino's torso; she tut-tutted each time and tossed it behind her. "For all it's grace and airs, it smells like salt and seaweed! It's disgusting!"

"Excuse me, but Ma'am," Katherine nervously murmured, shifting her weight, "can I wash off now?"

"Wash?! Oh, aye, child!" the hobbit practically shouted at her, expression changing from thoughtful to confused. "I told you when you arrived! It's in the back!"

"Um... yeaaah, I don't know how to use that thing," Kate stated just as loudly, shifting her weight and looking down at the ground with an awkward expression. "Could you show me how?!"

"Eh?! You don't know how to draw water for a bath?!" Matilda loudly exclaimed, looking at the girl as though she were an alien that had sprouted another head that had called her '_Mama'_. "What did you _bathe_ in until now?!"

"A tub!" Kate shouted, rolling her eyes. "If you MUST know... I've never done it myself, so I don't know how!"

"Never drawn water yourself? But wouldn't that mean... oh, my! Royalty?! In the Shire?!" the woman gasped, eyes widening in shock. "The Bagginses must be more well off than I thought! Oh, oh, hang on! I'll go draw the water right away, My Lady! Feel free to wait in here until it's ready. I also have a pretty party dress lying around somewhere, too... that outfit of yours is pretty, but it's in dire need of a wash, and it's hardly suitable for dancing!"

_Well, that took a turn,_ Kate silently muttered. _Me? Royalty? She must be off her rocker._

"May I sit down?" the albino finally asked; she didn't know it, but her pale face was flushed and she looked exhausted. "I don't feel very well."

"Of course," Miss Figg ushered, nodding a few times before heading outside. "I'll be back when the bath is ready!"

Sitting down and pressing a hand to her forehead, Kate wondered how she'd gotten herself into this mess.

She was going nuts: on top of having no clue where her brother was, she was being forced to attend a party. This was by no means a time to party, at least in her case! She didn't belong here, and it was driving her insane. She couldn't tell ANYBODY what was going on... if she did, they'd probably call her a witch.

Just like everyone back home.

She'd seen all those movies on the Salem Witch Trials.

They weren't pretty.

Slowly covering her mouth, the girl let out a muffled scream and fought to keep herself from bursting into frustrated tears.

"I want to go HOME," she hissed, so unhappy and hopeless that she couldn't help but scowl. "I have to find Nathan. If nobody does anything by tomorrow, I'm leaving to go look for him on my own."

"My lady!" Matilda crowed, poking her little head inside. "This way my Lady! The bath is ready!"

"Coming," Kate called back, getting to her feet and moving past the little woman, who eyed her silver haystack with something close to distaste. "Come, child... let's get you cleaned up. Your hair is too pretty to be left in such a state."

_Flattery will get you nowhere with me,_ the girl silently groused. _Especially not the type of flattery that borderlines on being a flat out lie._

Still, when she was led inside and taken to a huge tub in the back yard, Miss Figg helped her peel her filthy school clothes off and they tossed the outfit into a bucket full of soapy water. When Katie slid into the wooden tub, however, her eyes instantly rolled and she shivered in delight: the last time she'd had a bath felt like ages ago.

"Oh, my lady! Let me wash your back!" the woman exclaimed, running inside her shop and hastily coming out with a scrub brush; without a word, the little old hobbit knelt down in front of the tub and Kate pulled her long hair over her shoulder. However, when the woman gasped, Katie blinked and turned a little. "Oh, my... you poor thing!"

"What is it?" Kate asked, turning and looking at her in confusion. "What's wrong?"

"I hope whoever did this to you was severely punished," the little hobbit exclaimed, touching a specific spot beneath her right shoulder blade and gently brushing other spots along her back. "How terrible... it looks like these were burned into your skin."

Katie, on the other hand, flinched when unexpected pain swept through her skin at the woman's touch.

"OW!" she squeaked, jerking forward in alarm. "That hurts! What's wrong with my back?!"

"Eh? My lady, I... there are markings on your back," the hobbit confusedly shouted. "The wounds are healing nicely, if I do say so myself! They won't open up if I wash you."

Before Kate could panic about whatever was wrong with her skin, the feeling of hard bristles running against her stinging flesh made her wince. However, she eventually bit her tongue and allowed the little old woman to help her: after all, she figured it would end up being better for her in the long run.

Miss Figg did this in complete silence for several minutes, not speaking a single word.

Then, after nearly ten minutes of this oddly comfortable quiet, she handed Kate some soap and went inside.

The girl used the opportunity to wash her hair.

When the woman came back, she was holding white clothes.

"My lady," the Hobbit called, smiling at the girl with friendly blue eyes. "I brought you some underclothes that belonged to my mother when she was but a girl! She was tall for a hobbit, so I'm sure it'll all fit you. I'll leave them on the stool... if they don't fit, though, don't hesitate to call!"

"It'll be fine," Kate loudly explained, glancing at her with a firm expression. "I'm sure they'll fit."

However, the woman's next question startled her.

"Are you all right?" the hobbit yelled, looking at her with worried blue eyes. "I can see it in your eyes that some misfortune has befallen you. I don't even think you've told me what your name is, dear!"

"My name is Katherine," the albino loudly explained. "Katherine Sanders!"

"Well, you big folk sure have some very strange names," Matilda Figg murmured, shaking her head with a baffled expression. "Anyway, when you're done, feel free to change into the underclothes."

When the hobbit left with a grandmotherly nod, Katie blinked a few times and turned around.

"She's a little odd, but she's a nice person," Kate murmured, drawing her knees up to her chin; the warmth of the water soothed her pale skin, which almost seemed bleached under the light of the sun. "She reminds me of Miss McKinley, sorta... I guess older people really are nicer."

She soaked in the tub for a while, trying to let herself relax.

Still, when the water started getting chilly, she finally got out and started to dry herself off.

By the time the girl had pulled the old-fashioned underwear on, she was cleaner than she'd been in a while: her hair practically gleamed like snow and her skin was so white that it was almost blinding. Gently folding the towel and making her way inside the shop, the girl set it on the first table she could find.

The Hobbit looked her up and down before nodding.

"You could pass off as a hobbit beauty!" she chuckled, making the girl look at her with an askance expression. "You're a little taller than the norm, and you're much skinnier, but you really could."

"I don't know if that's a compliment or an insult," Kate muttered, gauging the little woman's morbidly small height of four feet and two inches. "I'm not a hobbit, I'm a human."

"Human, hobbit, bah! You're still a beauty! Now, if you want, I'll do your hair!" the old woman offered, eying the girl's thigh-length tresses with a keen hunger. "If you'd like me to, that is..."

"Would you, really?" Kate asked, blinking at her when she beamed. "If you think you can manage it, go ahead!"

"Wonderful! You can relax on the stool, then!" the little lady exclaimed, clapping like an excited child as she flurried around for something. "Oh, I've always wanted to try this on a girl with long hair! But it's actually rather taxing to get it right, and since beautiful hair is rare in the Shire, I've never been able to!"

Kate slowly made her way over to the stool and sat down.

"Just sit still and do as I say," the hobbit murmured kindly, pulling an old-fashioned bristle brush out of her pocket along with a comb made out of some type of animal bone; Katherine winced when the teeth of the brush snagged on her hair, but she dealt with the pain in silence. "You're going to look very pretty when all is said and done! Who knows? Maybe you'll even catch the heart of a special man tonight!"

"I've never had anybody touch my hair like this before," Kate called, making the woman pause. "Please be gentle... this is new to me."

"Don't worry," Matilda murmured, "I'll be gentle."

With that, the hobbit instantly started brushing the girl's hair with giddy smile on her face: after a few tense moments, the albino hesitantly closed her eyes and simply allowed herself to bask in the sensation. Admittedly, shes shivered a little bit now and then, but aside from that, she could almost pretend it was Miss McKinley standing behind her.

"You really do look like a princess," the hobbit woman suddenly murmured, making the albino twitch and turn her head with an expression of startled surprise. "I've never before seen someone with hair as beautiful as this. It's whiter than a cloud."

The hobbit lifted her eyes and gazed up at Kate's pale pink irises with an awed expression.

Then she sighed, pulling the right layer of Katherine's long side-bangs to the side and braiding them in an intricate sweeping design towards the back of her head; then she did the same with the left side and put the comb in her mouth so she could grab the girl's black ribbon from the table. Once she'd tied the gleaming tresses where the braided strands met at the base of Katie's head, she continued braiding the fused strands of hair down her back. Once that was finished, the woman moved in front of the albino and made a few adjustments to her square-cut bangs.

Finally, she stepped away and gasped.

"Oh, my!" she whispered, grinning at the confused albino. "You look so pretty! Almost as pretty as an elf! Stand up!"

"Okay...?" the girl drawled, slowly getting to her feet and tensing when the little woman pattered all around her, eyes shining behind her glasses. Before Kate could react, the woman hastily ran over to the bag and started pulling a few more things out.

Then Matilda turned around and held out the most beautiful dress Katherine had ever seen.

"This party gown is very, very old, so the style is extremely simple..." she explained, holding it up against the girl's chest and beaming after taking note of the size-measurements. "We might have a fit! I don't know if you will like it, but-"

"It's fine," the girl interrupted, shaking her head. "Any dress will do... this one's nice."

"I'm glad you like it," the hobbit cackled, smiling at the girl with a goofy, snaggle-toothed grin. "It was my great grandmother's!"

Katherine didn't care: it was still the most beautiful dress she'd ever had the luxury of wearing.

The outfit had a ruffled skirt that ended just above the ankles, but the inner arms were made of a skintight maroon fabric that would definitely cling to her in a pleasant way. Around it was a sheer, weightless fabric that billowed outwards from the elbow down. It was airy, and it gave the sleeves a profound amount of style. And instead of having simple buttons shooting up the front, there was a pale yellow sash weaving in and out of the openings in a crisscrossed style. At the throat, the sash was tied into a beautiful ribbon; at the waist, it swept behind the back and tied into another gorgeous ribbon before hanging loosely.

All in all, the outfit was pretty, but not too frilly.

Once she'd put the outfit on and her hair had been fluffed out, the Hobbit stepped back and nodded.

Then she turned, ran over to where the girl's sword had been lain, and brought it over before strapping the sheath to her waist.

"You're officially ready, my dear," Matilda cackled, clapping her hands. "Have fun at the party tonight! I'll wash your clothes for you and return them clean and dry tomorrow after second breakfast!"

"Thanks," the girl drawled, blinking as she was ushered out the door. "Um... so, which way to Bag End?"

"Bag End?" Miss Figg asked, cocking her head. "Follow the road south: it's the hill by the pond."

Kate nodded and waved when the woman shut the door: then she shielded her eyes and looked up at the sky, feeling the familiar sting of ultraviolet light on her sensitive skin. In this kind of light, she probably looked half dead, exactly like Mitchell had said: her skin was literally that pale. She doubted wearing a new dress and styling her hair a bit would really make much of a difference.

If makeup could barely make an impact on her ugliness, clothing was out of the question.

Tilting her head back and taking a deep breath, the girl began walking down the path, clasping her hands behind her and looking at the scenery. The only thing that she actually found relatively close to enjoyable was the nature surrounding her: she felt like she'd ended up in Ireland with all the green hills and rolling fields surrounding her.

Then her mind turned to the people back home, specifically Miss McKinley. Was she doing okay? Was she missing her?

The old woman was probably panicking, but... what if she had a heart attack or something because of it?

That thought scared Katherine down to her core, and she shook her head to get it out of her mind.

Unfortunately, aside from that one woman, nobody else would miss her... of that much she was certain. Although, thinking about her circumstances also brought a rather nostalgic song to mind. So, after peering around to make sure she was alone, the girl let out a sigh and started humming the tune, dancing a few steps at a time and hopscotching her way down the path.

"_Please, please forgive me..._" she hummed, slowly dancing across the path; she spread her arms and just went with the flow, since she didn't actually know how to dance for real. "_But I won't be home again... maybe someday you'll look up... and barely conscious, you'll say to no one... 'isn't something missing?'"_

Singing lightly and quietly, and alternating between a few gentle hums rather than lyrics, the girl quietly danced her way down the path without even realizing that someone was following her.

"_You won't cry for my absence, I know,_" she trilled, singing a little louder as she spun; her silver hair fanned out with the momentum before cascading back down around her shoulders. "_You forgot me long ago... am I that unimportant...? Am I so insignificant? Isn't something missing? Isn't someone missing me..._"

Katherine suddenly stopped spinning and merely stood there, shoulders sagging.

The answer was no.

Nobody was missing her.

After a moment, the solitude of being completely alone smashed into her and she slowly walked over to a nearby tree, pressing her back against it and just leaning on it for support. Then, she sank down to the ground and let the shade soothe her from the sun's rays. A gentle breeze lifted a few stray wisps of her hair, but she hardly cared.

"_Even though I'm the sacrifice, you won't try for me... not now,_" she sang quietly, thinking about her brother and finding it a little saddening that this particular song matched her situation perfectly. "_Though I'd die to know you love me... I'm all alone. Isn't something missing...? Isn't someone missing me...?_"

No.

Toni and A.J. hated her, her classmates were probably celebrating, her teachers were probably breathing a sigh of relief, and since nobody aside from Miss McKinley had ever truly cared about her, she doubted that they'd be all that happy to see her again. She wasn't wanted back in New York. But since staying here, wherever the hell it was, seemed out of the question... well, she would go back.

To the world where everyone hated her and all she could do was dream about the day she might end up being happy.

"Hallo!" someone stated in a very Scottish-sounding accent; it shocked her so badly that she nearly jumped out of her skin. "Mind if I ask who you are? I've never seen you around the Shire before!"

When Katie blinked and turned her head, she found herself staring at a hobbit who looked to be around her own age: his face was thin, his hazel eyes were bright with mischief, and his thin lips were pulled into an impossibly large smile.

"That's because I'm not from around here," the girl stated simply, reflexively keeping her face blank; when he leaned close to her face with large eyes, she leaned away from him, frowning. "What are you doing?"

"Peeking! And whoa! Fancy that!" he exclaimed, grinning at her in lopsided surprise. "You're hair really _is_ white! And your eyelashes, too!"

"Yeah, so what?" the girl snorted, scowling at him before self-consciously huddling down. "You have a problem with it?"

"Oh, no, Miss!" he corrected, pulling an apple from his pocket and polishing it on the flannel shirt he was wearing. "I was just curious. Never seen anyone who looked like snow before."

Kate flushed bright red in irritation and immediately stood up, silently walking away with a stiff back.

"Wait, where are you going?" the hobbit asked, loping after her and easily keeping pace. "I didn't offend you, did I?"

"Yes, you did, actually," she retorted, irritably blowing a strand of her silver hair out of her eyes. "My appearance is a touchy subject."

"My apologies, then," the hobbit stated, blinking rapidly before he scratched at his curly blonde hair. "I didn't mean anythin' by it."

"Whatever," the girl stated simply, keeping her face blank. "I've got to get going now."

"Where're ya off to?" the hobbit asked, not taking the hint to get lost. "The party is going to be starting soon, ya know!"

"Bag End," the girl explained, not looking at him even when he blinked.

"What's your name?" the blonde asked, beaming at her yet again. "I don't believe I caught it yet."

"Katherine," the albino sighed, shoulders sagging and expression going flat with annoyance. "I go by Katie."

"Well, my name is Peregrin Took," the boy explained, looking at her with laughter in his eyes. "I go by Pippin."

"Pleasure..." the girl muttered, then uneasily added, "I think."

"Wah, I'm pretty hungry," the Hobbit announced as they walked, biting into his apple. "Ya know, the world doesn't seem such a howling wilderness when you know a big party is about to happen. I'm so glad it's a sunshiny day, too... it's all warm. It would have been a pity if it had rained, since everything would be ruined."

"What makes you say that?" Kate asked, lifting her hand and holding it out towards the blinding sky above. "How could rain ruin a party?"

"Well, it gets everything wet," Pippin explained, giving her a blink. "It's not fun to dance when you're wet."

"How would you know if you've never tried it?" the albino snorted, giving him a sideways smirk. "Whoever says only sunshine can bring happiness is a fool who has never danced in the rain."

The hobbit's eyebrows rose as he thought about it, munching on his apple.

"You know, maybe rainy days aren't bad, then," he stated, shrugging. "I don't know. I've never danced in the rain. Who has?"

"I... I have," the girl admitted, feeling a little uneasy. "I like rainy days better than sunny days."

"Oh, don't misunderstand! I like rainy days real well, too," Pippin allowed, tossing his apple and rolling it around his shoulders before catching it in his teeth; the girl twitched and did a double take when he bit it and happily continued munching. "All sorts of days are interesting, don't you think? You don't know what's going to happen, and there's so many things to do."

"You talk a lot," the girl sighed, finally deciding to put up with his chatter. "Has anyone ever told you that?"

"All the time!" he laughed, accent growing thick and brown eyes gleaming. "Particularly Merry! He says my tongue flaps more than the flag on the old Brandybuck farm!"

"Who?" Kate asked, but then she nearly smacked herself.

"Merry," Pippin exclaimed, smiling at her. "Meriadoc Brandybuck! He's my closest mate!"

"Ah," the girl sighed, shaking her head. "I see."

Well, truthfully, she didn't... but she probably figured it would be better not to say that aloud.

"Speaking of Merry," the boy suddenly laughed, then jumped up and down and waved. "Oi! Merry! Over here!"

"Pippin!" another voice called; Katie glanced up when another boy with remarkably similar curly blonde hair came running down in a plain set of brown overall trousers. "There you are! I've been lookin' all over for ya! I have to tell ya somethin'!"

The hobbit stopped when he beheld the girl standing next to his friend.

Then he did a double take and leaned close, blinking rapidly.

"Wow... you're..." he began to say, but Kate held up a hand before he could say anything.

"I know," she stated grouchily, mouth pressing into a thin line. "I'm white! White, white, white! Let's just leave it at that."

"I was going to say '_pretty_' but have it your way," he chuckled, raising his eyebrows before glancing at Pippin; the boy instantly laughed and tossed him another apple, which he rolled up his arm and around his shoulders before grasping it in his other hand. "Anyway, Pippin! You won't believe what I found out earlier!"

"Come on, then, let's hear it!" he exclaimed, eyes twinkling with mischief. "Tell me!"

"I know where Gandalf stashed his fireworks!" Merry whispered, eyes widening with wonder. "Tonight, I'm planning on sneaking a few of the biggest ones out and lighting them! Want to come with me?"

"You think I'm daft?! Of course I do!" the hobbit scoffed, chomping into his apple; then he glanced at Kate and blinked, since she was frowning. "What?"

"You guys are going to take some of his fireworks?" she deadpanned, quirking a silver eyebrow. "Really?"

"Of course!" both blondes simultaneously stated, sharing a look before laughing.

"Want to come with?" Pippin added as an afterthought. "It might be fun!"

"No thanks," the girl muttered, giving them a shake of her head. "I'm not really into those kinds of escapades."

"Suit yourself!" Merry chuckled, then waved his buddy on and took off down the road. "Come on, Pippin! Let's go!"

"It was a pleasure meeting you! I'll be sure to steal a dance before the night is done!" Peregrin exclaimed, giving her a cheerful wave and flashing her a grin before darting after his friend. "Wait for me, Merry!"

Kate stared until they vanished around a bend in the road.

"Boys," she muttered, shuddering before she hurried on towards Bag End.


	13. Chapter 12: Wallflower

**Chapter Twelve: Wallflower**

The stunning festivities and loud music had somehow turned day into night.

Which, quite honestly, Kate was grateful for since her entire body was hurting from being overexposed to sunlight.

Hobbits of every shape and size had come to the party, and the old-fashioned medieval dancing was overwhelming Katherine's already dazed mind. She was even more overwhelmed by the fireworks that exploded into the sky now and then, though: her glazed eyes were large as she beheld the glittering, fiery sparkles that looked nothing like the the ones back in New York. Beside her, Frodo was having a conversation with a fairly handsome hobbit who had introduced himself as Samwise Gamgee.

After the introduction, however, the dark-haired hobbit had gotten immersed in a conversation about one of the female hobbits at the party.

"Come on, Sam!" the boy chuckled, looking at the sandy-haired blonde. "Just ask her for a dance! She's looking rather lovely this evening!"

"I-I don't know, Mr. Frodo," Sam murmured, uncomfortably looking at a beautiful curly-haired blonde who was dancing with her friends. Her freckled cheeks were rosy, her hair was long, and her green-grey eyes were bright as she twirled her skirt and danced her heart out, laughing all the while. "I think I might just have another ale."

When he turned, Frodo grinned and put his arms around Sam.

"Oh, no you don't," he chuckled, forcefully steering him around and shoving him towards the hobbit woman. "Go get her, Sam!"

"But, Mr..." the blonde stuttered, then faltered when he stumbled clean into the throng of dancing party-goers; on the other hand he looked rather startled when the object of his affections flawlessly took his arms and pulled him into a dance, beaming at him. "H-hallo..."

"Yes!" Frodo happily hissed, grinning in relief when they started twirling around; then he turned and looked at Katherine, who was merely staring at the sky and watching all of the fireworks that Gandalf was lighting. "Aren't you going to dance?"

It took the girl a moment to realize it was her he was addressing.

"Huh?" she murmured, looking at him with weary eyes. "Dance...? No, I wasn't planning on it."

"Well, why not?" Frodo asked, smiling at her; she instantly looked away, not wanting to meet his gaze. The boy obviously didn't realize it, but he was extremely handsome and his looks were quite dashing at times. It made her self-conscious in the worst way. "It's a party! You should have fun!"

Katherine, on the other hand, didn't want to dance since fun was the least of her priorities.

She was too anxious about her brother and about where the hell she had ended up to care about a party.

There was only one thing still keeping her from falling apart: she didn't think any of it was real.

After all, how could she? This entire situation was impossible to fathom truly happening.

Life used to make sense to Katherine before everything had collapsed back at the school. Well, maybe not other people's behavior, but for the most part one thing followed from another. It was the principle of Cause and Effect, but what was the cause for everything here? What was the effect? To Kate, it seemed like the moment that winged man had shown up, nothing about the world made sense anymore. It had to be a nightmare, or a hallucination, or something-anything-other than reality.

And yet, it still felt way too real to be a dream.

The firelight was still warming her cheeks... the music and laughter still filled the air... the fireworks above her were bright...

And the knowledge that she might not actually be on Earth anymore scared her so badly that it was taking every ounce of emotional detachment she had within her to keep from falling into a state of hysteria and panic. It was just on the edge of her heart, waiting to swallow her like a black cloud, tightening her lungs and exerting pressure on her will from all sides.

"Well?" Frodo asked, drawing the girl out of the recesses of her mind. "Would you like to dance?"

The girl mutely shook her head, then turned away.

She didn't feel like it, and anyway, this was her first time being invited to a party in any shape or form. Even if it wasn't real, it was still rather overwhelming.

"No," she murmured, glancing up when a bright flash of blue light lit up the dark sky. "The fireworks are enough for me."

And they were, too: that part wasn't even a lie.

Her pink eyes widened in wonder and she gaped in awe when she saw the firework blooming outwards.

_Like an enormous flower,_ she silently thought, staring at the sky as the fire fell around the village like a cage and zoomed off into the darkness. _So pretty..._

It really was... she had never seen anything like it, even on the Fourth of July and new years.

And since she'd lived in New York for the majority of her life... well, that was a pretty big deal, since the firework shows were positively enormous.

"Well, why not try something to eat, then?" Frodo asked, worriedly giving her a frown. "You're looking a little tired, and you haven't eaten anything at all today."

That much was true. Kate hadn't had much of an appetite.

"If you say so," the girl murmured, slowly getting to her feet and dusting her backside off out of habit. "I'll go take a peek at what they have on the tables."

The handsome hobbit grinned and nodded, but when two bodies stumbled out of the crowd and fell on him, he felt rather startled.

"O-oh, sorry, Frodo!" a familiar accented voice exclaimed, making the teal-eyed boy blink. "Merry here tripped over his own feet while we were dancing!"

"Did not, Pippin!" another accented voice snorted. "It was your own fault for spinning us around!"

"It's all right," the dark-haired youth laughed, happily getting to his feet and dusting his slacks off; then he bent down and hefted his friends up. "Are you injured?"

"Just my pride!" Merry sighed, giving a shrug before he nudged Pippin and waggled his eyebrows. "Pippin here has a question for ya!"

"Go on," Frodo murmured, glancing at the other blonde and waiting with a gentle grin. "What is it, Pippin?"

"I was wonderin' if you'd seen an an unusual-looking lass anywhere," the boy chuckled, rubbing his neck before pulling an apple out of his pocket. "Kind of stubborn, very quiet, has hair and skin the color of snow... a right beauty, she is."

"Oh, you mean Katherine?" Frodo asked, looking mildly surprised. "She was just here. Why do you ask?"

"I promised her a dance earlier!" the boy laughed, hazel eyes bright. "She was quite stubborn and hot-tempered, but she was also rather interesting."

"What he means to say," Merry intervened, leaning on his friend's shoulder with a knowing look, "is that he thinks the lass is a beaut, and he fancies her."

"Is that so?" Frodo chuckled, shaking his head before he pointed at the food table. "She went that way. She wants to see what the food tables have."

"Thank you!" Pippin chuckled, giving him a dazzling grin and loping away. "I'll be back after I've had some fun, Merry!"

He didn't wait for a response.

They could say what they wanted, they could tease him all they liked, but the white-haired girl who liked the rain was interesting.

And, while he may not have gone so far as saying he fancied her, he did indeed think she was a beauty. An unusual one, of course... but definitely a beauty.

When the hobbit finally walked the dining tables, he was mildly excited to see that Katherine was there. However, the curly-haired youth paused and quirked an eyebrow when he realized that the albino girl was currently frowning at the table even though it had been filled with food. She also looked slightly displeased by everything she was seeing, but when the hobbit glanced at the source of her displeasure, he honestly couldn't understand the reason behind it.

After a moment, the girl hesitantly stepped forward, picked up an eating utensil and peered around before she discreetly poked a large slab of meat.

She did so with her shoulders hunched, as though she were afraid it might come alive at any second.

After a moment of watching her poke at the food, Pippin waltzed over and set his elbow on the table, flashing her a grin.

"Hallo again," he greeted, cheeks flushing slightly when she turned her eyes on him; they were just as cold and suspicious as they'd been earlier, but somehow, the entrancingly light shade of ruby-violet he'd seen in the sun had darkened. As of right now, her irises were an odd silvery shade of amethyst. "What are you doing?"

"Is that any of your business?" Kate quipped, lifting a single snowy eyebrow. "Why do you want to know?"

"Well, I'm just curious," Pippin explained, turning and looking at the sky with an easy-going smile. "Most people eat food. Not poke it."

Her cold expression crumpled up and her mouth tightened, eyes growing wide: a split second later, she flushed almost purple with embarrassment.

When she hastily looked away, Pippin nearly laughed aloud.

"The food," Kate grumpily explained, making a gesture at the dishes in front of them. "It's... weird-looking."

When the albino pointedly gestured at the dishes resting in front of them, the hobbit followed her gaze and tilted his head.

"How so?" he asked, staring at her in perplexity. "These are dishes that can be found all over the Shire... even further than that, too, I reckon."

"Well, I'm not from around here," Kate stated, shaking her head. "I came... from... a-across the... ocean."

When his eyes widened, she didn't look at him.

"Like the elves?" he asked, making the girl wince. "Well, that's interesting. Is your homeland pretty?"

For a long moment, the albino didn't respond... merely kept her eyes shut.

Then those eyes opened and she stared at him in puzzlement.

"No," she stated sourly, making him frown. "Sure, we've made towers that touch the clouds, and enormous buildings that sparkle in the sun... but the beauty there is nothing but a surface image."

She didn't like how Pippin's eyes lit up with wonder upon hearing her description, however.

"Towers that touch the clouds...?" he whispered, eyes wide with awe. "How in ever did your people manage to build them?!"

"Eh?" Kate asked, blinking in surprise. "Well, it took a long time... people built them all from the ground up. Some were hundreds of feet tall, others were only twenty feet tall."

"That's incredible," he murmured, shaking his head with a grin. "Tell me more!"

"Sorry, but please, no," Kate muttered, going back to poking the meat: after a moment, her gaze fell on another dish and her face turned green. "Ew..."

"Something wrong?" Pippin asked.

"What _is _this?" Kate carefully inquired, hesitantly picking up something that resembled a piece of purple chicken; she stared at it in horror. "Ew... why can't they have something normal here? Like a fish fillet?"

"What's a fish fillet?" Pippin asked, quirking a curious eyebrow. "Another thing from your homeland?"

Katherine instantly blinked and stared at him as though he'd grown another head.

"Um..." the girl droned, looking extremely uncomfortable, "a fish fillet is... uh... a fish that's been cooked and filleted?"

"And?" the hobbit asked, giving her an eager expression. "What kind of fish is your favorite to eat?"

"Well, I-I don't really know," Kate mumbled, hunching her shoulders and hiding her eyes with her lashes. "I never really got to have much fish."

"Well, wanna try some?" Pippin asked, pushing a plate over with a grin. "It's actually really good."

Kate stared at it for a few moments, then picked a piece of the food up with a trembling mouth and hesitantly bit into it.

The albino instantly blinked, pink eyes going wide in surprise.

"Weird..." she stated slowly, staring at it in total disbelief. "It tastes like a mixture of fish and _chicken,_ but... surprisingly, it's... actually kinda good!"

And it was: she'd never had anything like it before. It was juicy and tender, but the flavor was extremely unusual. After watching her take a few more bites, Pippin began to tell her about the Shire and where he lived. He told the girl about his under-hill house in the woods, how he liked living away from the town, and about his favorite hobbies. He even explained that he had a passionate love for discovering new things, and an even bigger love for his best friend, Meriadoc Brandybuck. The two of them were practically brothers in every way, aside from sharing the bond of blood.

Still, hearing him talk about Merry's mischievous streak made the girl think of her own brother. The only thing they had to connect with each other was the fact that they were related. Take that away and Nathan would have left with everyone else.

And yet... and yet, just like that, a memory from when she was a little girl suddenly came back to her. It was a small memory, and the sensation of remembering it was quite strange. Mostly because it was a memory that was surprisingly happy.

She, her brother, her elder sister, and her biological parents had rented a cabin up in Canada and had taken a week-long camping trip.

It was only after a very cold day of playing in the snow that they'd all come back and lit the fire... her father had sung a song with his big, cracked guitar, their mother had made some hot cocoa with marshmallows, and everyone had snuggled up together in a big blanket. That weekend was the last time the whole family had been together, though... a month afterwards, the fire had occurred. And Emily's struggle of keeping their family together had begun.

She'd been only sixteen years old at the time.

Dropping out of High School to get a full-time job, frantically struggling to learn how to take care of children, frantic mornings as she attempted to get them safely to school.

Stress upon stress upon stress...

Only to have that struggle go to waste because of a single driveby.

And yet... even though all of that had happened, Kate felt kind of stymied about how she'd forgotten the best time she'd ever had.

When had she gotten so used to being sad that even the happy memories had faded?

"Does your house have a fireplace?" the girl suddenly asked, cutting off the hobbit's lilting voice; he blinked at her, started by her inquiry. "You know, like Bilbo's?"

"Ah?" Pippin asked, tilting his head. "It does."

"Do you use it?" Katie pressed, pushing her square-cut bangs out of her eyes.

"Yes, I cook on it and make tea all the time," he replied, then cocked an eyebrow and glanced at her in curiosity. "Why?"

Katie merely shrugged and looked up at the night sky with wistful eyes.

"I just miss sitting in front of a fire," she murmured, watching as another firework exploded above them. "That's all..."

As unsettling as the day's events had been, on top of her anxiety and panic, it felt rather nice to have someone talking to her without shying away. Truthfully, Katherine hadn't even realized how much she'd missed normal interaction until that moment. Being ignored had made her hard.

"Invitation, sir?" someone called, startling the girl out of her thoughts. Pippin spun around to see who had addressed him, but he sighed when he was met with a mischievous old man's grin; Katherine watched silently as the hobbit broke into a grin of his own and clasped hands with Gandalf. "Hello, Peregrin... how are you this fine evening?"

"Wonderful, Gandalf!" the hobbit happily explained, nodding so brightly that his curls bounced with the movement. "'Tis a splendid evening for dancing! And eating!"

"Indeed," the wizard stated, giving Kate a long look; the girl blinked when she saw the intense frown in his eyes, but she eventually brushed it off. Not long after, the old man looked up and stiffened. "Good gracious, it looks like the children have gotten into the wagon! I must leave now... enjoy the party!"

"We will!" Pippin laughed, waving at the old man as he hurried away; then he looked at Kate and asked, "still hungry?

As much as she wanted to deny it, she couldn't since her stomach growled.

"Very..." she muttered, glancing away with a light scowl.

Without another word, he guided the albino girl to another long table piled high with food.

There were large steaming platters of sausages and meats, boiled potatoes, dried fish of several kinds, grilled fish, chicken, turkey, mounds of raw vegetables sliced into strips, big tureens of cabbage and sausage soup, onion soup, spice soup, platters of breads, cheeses, fruits, pies, cakes, and casks of wine and beer. Hobbits were constantly coming and going to keep the platters full, but Kate furrowed her brows when she noted that almost all of the female hobbits had fairly short hair.

Most of them had hair that was even shorter than Frodo's boyish curls.

"Hey... why do all of the... er, hobbit girls have short hair?" Kate asked, looking at Pippin with a blank expression. "There are only five girls that I've seen with long hair, and it doesn't even reach the middle of the back."

The albino watched as the boy glanced around, seeming a little bewildered when he realized that she was correct.

"Er, well, I figure it's much easier to keep hair short for women folk," he stated, giving a confused shrug. "I once heard a lady say that its tough to comb out the snarls when it gets too long. I'd have to agree, too: almost all hobbits have curly hair. That's just the way it is."

"Well, I don't blame them," Kate murmured, shaking her head. "I hate my long hair... if I don't braid it before I go to sleep, it gets so tangled by morning that I have to brush it for over an hour just to make it look relatively neat again. And even after that, it's a bad hair day waiting to happen."

"Why didn't you ever cut it, then?" Pippin inquired. "Seems rather odd. Never seen a girl with hair past her arse before."

Kate's expression hardened and she stared off into space.

Mostly because there were two answers to that question.

"Because my sister liked it when my hair was long," she murmured, looking at him with eyes devoid of any joy. "That's all."

"If I ask anything a friend shouldn't, just kick me." the hobbit stated out of the blue, watching her expression; since her face didn't even twitch, he turned to the food, poking at some kind of meat before putting it on a small white plate and handing it to her.

"Try these," he laughed, grinning at her. "They're my most treasured."

Kate held the dish at arm's length, eyeing it suspiciously.

"What kind of meat is this?" she asked after a moment.

After all, why not?

"It's pork," he replied, looking a little surprised. "You know, from a boar. Try it. This is the best thing here, I promise."

Kate relaxed and brought the plate close, eating it quickly but neatly. However, the girl paused mid-chew and watched with raised eyebrows as he ate nearly a dozen himself in half the time it had taken her to finish one; then he put some sausages on her plate and said, "here, have some of these, too."

"What are they made of?" Kate hesitantly inquired, suspicion flaring anew.

"Pork and beef, some spices-I don't know what kinds... why?" the hobbit inquired. "Are there some kinds of things that the people from your homeland don't eat?"

"Some kinds," the girl replied noncommittally before nibbling on a sausage. "May I have some of that soup right there?"

"Okay!" he chuckled, ladling the soup she'd mentioned into a fine white bowl and trading it for her plate. "Here ya go!"

Katie took the bowl in both of her small white hands and tried it, cocking her head to the side with a quizzical look.

"Yummy," she stated in a slow tone, closing her eyes. "I recognize this flavor from somewhere... weird."

As she drank the remainder of the soup, Pippin took her bowl and set it down.

"May I ask a question?" he asked, making the girl stiffen. "How and why did your eyes go from being the color of wine to their current pale lilac?"

"My eyes did what?" the girl asked, touching her face with a startled expression. "Wait... do they look bloodshot?! Are my eyes red around the edges?!"

"No..." Pippin asked, frowning at the sight of her panicked expression. "Is that bad?"

"Well, technically, it could be... but if they're not bloodshot, then it probably has to do with the current lighting," Kate sighed, face instantly softening in relief. "I have no color in my body because of my illness... I'm an albino, so things are a little weird with me."

"I've come across albinism before, but I've never seen it in a human," Gandalf suddenly stated from directly behind her, making the girl jump; she whirled around when he slid his hand through a lock of her snow-white hair and observed it with scrutinizing blue eyes. "I was indeed wondering about your peculiar coloring earlier... but that would explain it. If it's the same with you as it is with plants, then something within your body gives you this unusually pallid appearance and causes extreme sensitivity to sunlight. Am I right?"

Kate blinked, since that was a textbook description of albinism.

"You're absolutely right," she stated, feeling a little awed. "That's what albinism is."

_How did he know that?_ Kate wondered.

"How curious," he murmured, letting her hair slide through his fingers like tendrils of spun moonlight. "Albinism in a bipedal creature... my dear, are you really so sensitive to sunlight that you start blistering if you're outside for too long? And is it true that you have to be cautious in order to prevent yourself from getting sick?"

"In a nutshell, yes," Kate mumbled, pushing his hand away from her head with an uncomfortable expression. "I have a specific type of albinism, though: it's called Hermansky Pudlak Syndrome. I may not look like it, but I'm actually extremely frail since I bleed way more than a normal person should. Even small scratches don't heal for at least a month since my blood doesn't clot normally... I've only lived up to this point because I'm extremely cautious of my surroundings."

"Indeed..." Gandalf whispered, looking genuinely awed. "Is that not a danger, though? Having an open wound that long could lead to infection."

"Well, yeah, I guess, but even though my condition is severe, I'm used to it," Kate explained, hiding her eyes with a depressed-sounding sigh. "At any rate, Hermansky Pudlak syndrome isn't exactly common. I'm just lucky I haven't gone blind yet."

"Why don't you find someone to treat you?" Pippin finally asked, looking at her in confusion. "Why not get someone who can cure this illness instead of letting it take its toll?"

For a long moment, Kate merely stared at him in shocked disbelief... but then her eyes became disturbingly empty and she looked away.

"You know, I'd have done it by now if it were possible," the albino groused, making the blonde boy blink in confusion. "Unfortunately, there isn't treatment for albinism because it's a genetic disorder."

For a long moment, they stared at her.

"A what?" Gandalf carefully inquired, blue eyes extremely intense for some reason. "Genetic... disorder?"

Kate stared back, feeling her blood growing cold as she wondered just how far behind in scientific development these people truly were.

"The word '_Genetic_' means '_passed down from parent to child_'," Kate carefully explained, feeling her anxiety about this situation flaring anew. "It's not like an illness you can catch, or even like a disease. I was born this way."

"What does that have to do with it?" Pippin quipped, not getting it.

"Everything: my albinism is as much a part of me as an arm or a leg," Katie grumbled, trying to think of a simpler way to explain it. "I've had it since birth and I'll have to deal with it for the rest of my life. The only thing I can do is try to alleviate the unpleasant symptoms that come along with my condition, because there will never be a way for me to treat the root cause. It's just... part of my body."

"Oh," the hobbit muttered, eyes widening before he abruptly looked at the table. "I didn't know..."

"It's not your fault," Kate muttered, shaking her head. "Don't worry about it."

"You want my honest opinion?" Pippin sighed, grinning at her with a gentle expression. "Albinism seems rather unpleasant, but a dance with an albino... might be another story."

Gandalf had been expecting anything but what happened next. A sneer, a roll of the eyes, a face-palm... after all, Kate seemed to be a rather tart young lady, and even though Pippin was an extremely jovial young man, his tongue had a way of inciting anger. But instead of acting cold or sarcastic like Gandalf had been expecting... Katherine's hard amethyst irises unexpectedly softened in the firelight and twinkled like opals.

Then her soft mouth lifted into a faint smile, and the old man's storm-blue eyes snapped open wide: in that moment, his relaxed expression left him.

_What?_ Gandalf wondered, blinking in shock as he beheld the gut-wrenchingly familiar expression on the girl's young face. _Her smile... it's... no... there's no possible way. It can't be..._

"Fine," Katie grumbled, hesitantly placing her small hand in his gangling big one. "But just one dance."

"All right!" Pippin laughed, grinning like a fox. "As you wish, my lady!"

And just like that, he startled the girl into letting out a small yip by swinging her out into the crowd: then he began dancing with her in a bright giddy, cheerful fashion.

However, Gandalf merely stood where he was for a long moment, staring down at the ground with his stomach tying itself into knots. He didn't understand the way his heart had flopped so horribly when he'd seen that familiar smile... he knew he'd seen it before.

He also remembered where he had seen it.

What he _didn't_ understand was why he was seeing that expression on the face of someone it didn't belong to. Or rather, on the face of a girl he knew held some great importance yet unseen.

He shivered and shook his head, still not believing what he'd just witnessed. He felt stunned to the core.

"Her smile..." Gandalf muttered quietly, dazedly heading back over to the wagon. "An ill omen... I truly just saw Tauriel in her smile."

And he had, even down to the faint, familiar twinkle in her eyes.

The sense of familiarity that had smashed into his stomach upon seeing that unexpected grin had unsettled him greatly.

Mostly because of three morbid reasons.

For one thing, this girl wasn't Tauriel... for another, she wasn't even of the same species as the woman in question.

But most importantly... Kate was alive.

And Tauriel, the fiery-haired elven maiden who'd helped them destroy Smaug all those years ago, had been found brutally slaughtered not long after their last encounter.


	14. Chapter 13: Now You See Me

**Chapter Thirteen: Now You See me...**

As much as she wanted to deny it, she couldn't.

Dancing was fun.

Kate's long hair gleamed in the firelight as she spun and twirled, barely able to catch a glimpse of who her partner was this time: they continued switching after dancing three circles, but it was so quick... there was no time to think. To worry. She was lost in the moment, bright eyed and so wondrously close to letting go of the shackles that had been weighing her down.

It had been a long time since she'd felt like this... but there was no time to think about that, because her partner let go and another locked arms with her, dancing in the opposite direction.

"This is so much fun!" the girl laughed, giggling maniacally under the laughter and loud music. She was grinning so widely that she thought her mouth might rip. "I haven't felt this good in years!"

The red party dress fanned out like a flower when her partner chuckled and let go, twirling her around and watching as she spun right into the arms of another hobbit.

She was mildly surprised to see a flush-faced Samwise Gamgee in front of her, but they danced nonetheless, moving around and around in perfect rhythm. Pippin had vanished after the first partner switch, but now, Kate couldn't really stop dancing: she was in the spur of the moment.

Best of all, it was helping her to forget the anxiety concerning her twin. She had been dancing for a while now... above them, the fireworks rained down like magical glitter, swirling in gorgeous sparkles.

Kate felt rather giddy with the magic around her. It was almost as though a strange veil were falling across her mind, blocking out her worries: all she could do was dance. The fireworks were bright, the lighting was gorgeous, and she was so strangely happy that her eyes almost seemed to glow.

In that moment, the dance ended and everyone cheered, clapping wildly as the musicians bowed and began another dance.

Kate, on the other hand, decided to take a small break. After giving Sam a small nod, she headed over to her original seat and sat down just as a flash of something white registered in the corner of her eye.

When she looked up, however, everything around her dissolved.

_There was no more sound... no more music... no more laughter... nothing but the shock of reality descending upon her like a crack of thunder._

_He was right there._

_Her brother was standing right there, but he looked awful. His face was smeared with dirt and blood, his school uniform was covered in rips, his white hair was matted with filth, and his amethyst eyes were angry. _

_He was looking directly at her. _

_Then, almost abruptly, he spun on his heel and disappeared into the crowd. _

__"NATE!" the girl shrieked.___ "NATHAN! WAIT!"_

_Hiking the skirts of the dress up, the girl tore after him in a frenzy, heart palpitating with relief and anxiety._ _She ran out of the clearing, away from the lights... and darkness enveloped her._

_Katie blinked, mind suddenly becoming abnormally muddled._

_"Nathan?" she asked, wondering why everything had become pitch black. "Where are you?"_

_There was something off about this darkness_. _It didn't feel as though she were even outside anymore: when she glanced up, she couldn't see any stars and everything was abnormally quiet. _

_The terror she'd been suppressing within her mind overwhelmed her and dark feelings once again flittered around her heart. _

_Katherine shook her head, pushing away the thoughts that were welling up in her mind: it was too frightening for her to think about the situation she was in._

_S__ince she couldn't see anything, she sat down on the smooth stone beneath her and hugged her knees, burying her chin in the folds of her dress__._

_Alone in the dark._

_Again._

_That was when, out of the blue, she heard the voice: a strange, high-pitched voice, laughing like a young child._ _A familiar voice... a voice that was coaxing the thoughts she was trying so hard to resist._

_"Why is Precious so sad?" the familiar voice giggled. __Kate abruptly lifted her head, scanning her surroundings with startled eyes; she hesitantly grabbed the hilt of the sword at her waist and shivered._

_"W-who's there?" the albino girl called, squeezing the sword hilt with a shaking fist. "Where are you?"_

_As if answering her question, something happened: from the midst of the darkness came a dim glow, maybe two meters from where she was sitting. A thin, blue phosphorescence had begun to radiate out of the void. After gaping at the light with an open mouth, she saw something that rocked her soul to its core, heart flying up her throat. _

_It was a child... a boy with extremely large hazel eyes. __Kate's face slackened: t__his boy... this was the same boy she'd seen on the bridge, there was no mistaking it._

_Only now, he was looking at Katherine with such a huge, sinister grin that it made her blood run cold._

_When she shivered, he let out a screeching laugh that grated at her ears._

_"Precious... we've founds it," the child whispered, stretching his hands out with glittering eyes, "it is good that the nasties did not catch us. It would have all been over before Precious knew it!"_

_"I... I know you!" Kate yipped, leaping to her feet and drawing the sword; she held it out in front of her with shaking hands. "You're that boy from the bridge! The one who started talking about dark masters and other creepy stuff! What do you want from me?! Why are we here?! Where is Nathan, and who are you?!"_

_"We means you no harm," the little boy giggled, blue eyes flashing with a devilish amount of glee; when the girl swallowed and whirled around to flee, he appeared directly in front of her and she let out an involuntary shriek of fright. "Silly Precious! Trying to run away?"_

_"Who are you?" Kate shrieked, hefting the sword. "Why are you harassing me?!"_

_"We tolds her, did we not?" the boy inquired, grinning at her. "We means no harm."_

_"Stop playing dumb!" the girl shouted, frustrated with his cryptic responses. "Tell me your NAME!"_

_"Trahald," the boy giggled, giving her an angelic smile. "If Precious wants us to,__ we__'ll tell her lots of pretty things. After all, Precious deserves it. Precious is our master."_

_"Pretty things...?" Kate hesitantly inquired, lowering the sword without relaxing her muscles; even though she didn't buy a word he was saying, the ghost inside her was exhibiting no tension or concern, so she didn't think he was an enemy. However, his exceedingly strange abilities for appearing and disappearing out of the blue was a sure sign that he couldn't possibly be a normal living thing. "What are you talking about?"_

_"There's no going back to Other World for my poor, poor Precious," the little boy crooned, grinning from ear to ear when her eyes took on a startled visage. "She'll never be able return. But it is good, yes? Nobody wants her there."_

_"Shut up," Kate whispered, knees going weak. "You're wrong! I... I..."_

_"Precious is waiting, but nobody is looking for her," the child whispered, vanishing and reappearing next to her with those sadistic puppy eyes. "Poor Precious... she can't go home, and neither can her nasty brother!__"_

_That was it._

_Kate's breath halted in her throat and her eyes welled up with tears._ _Knees buckling, the girl dropped the sword and clutched her hair with both hands._

_She couldn't find any words to deny what he was saying, but his piercing laugh stabbed at her heart in ways that she couldn't even begin to fathom._

_He was purposely hurting her, as if he somehow knew all of her deepest fears and was using them to gain power over her._

_"Stop it!" Kate shrieked, finally gripping the sword and swinging it blindly; the darkness returned with a dull swishing sound, but for all of her reckless effort, the flailing tip of the sword failed to reach the devilish child. "Go away and leave me alone! I don't like you! I don't want to see you! Go away!"_

_"Silly Precious... we only says the truth," the boy simpered, reappearing out of the dark and looking at her with mock innocence. "__Precious is all alone."_

_"SHUT UP!" Kate screeched, leaping to her feet with the sword in hands. "Shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up, SHUT UP!"_

_She lunged with an angry scream, but the boy was no longer there; he was a little further off._

_"Now, now, does Precious really want to hurts us?" he inquired, grinning like a fox. "If we left, Precious wouldn't have anyone to talk to aside from all the nasty nasty __hobbitses__..."_

_The raw truth of the statement struck like a blow._

_"SHUT UP!" Kate wailed, stomping her foot in dismay. "I'm going to find a way back home! To the REAL world! MY world!"_

_The child startled her by reappearing directly behind her and gently pressing his hand against her right shoulder: searing pain instantly flashed through her skin, and she flinched._

_However, the boy's eyes rolled back and he sighed, seeming relieved._

_"My precious..." he whispered, pressing his cheek against the small of her slender back and nuzzling it. "You're the same as Precious... same feeling... same... hunger... you ARE my Precious. __Soon, now... soon__ we's be together. Forever."_

_When the child laughed, he rapidly began to fade and the blue light vanished._ _By the time she raised her head to look, he was gone: the girl heard only the screeches of his grating laughter fading into the distance, echoing in the darkness._

**BOOOOM!**

Kate's eyes snapped open at the sound of an explosion: the tears running down her cheeks dropped off when she flailed and looked around, breathing hard.

Her muscles were shaking so violently that her body couldn't even move properly: her shoulders quivered, her hands trembled, and her knees quaked.

After rubbing her eyes, the girl looked around and realized that she was still sitting at the table. When she glanced up, her brother wasn't there. Everyone was still dancing, the music was still going on, and nothing had really changed.

"A dream..." she murmured, sniffing and hugging herself with terror-stricken eyes. "God, what a horrible nightmare."

She didn't say it, but all the while, she knew... these days, her dreams had a very bad habit of coming true.

After a moment, she stood up and stretched before looking around: she spotted Frodo nearby.

Walking over to the curly-haired youth, the girl tapped his shoulder and waved when he glanced at her.

"Hi," she murmured, ignoring the way he frowned at her eyes. "Um... I was just wondering... could I return to Bag End?"

"What?" he asked, looking highly surprised. "The party hasn't even gotten going yet..."

"I'm... tired..." the girl mumbled, glancing away. "I need some time to be alone."

For a long moment, Frodo glanced at the floor... then he looked up at her and tilted his head, seeming a little awkward.

"Well, actually, I need to talk to you about something," the Hobbit admitted, making the girl blink. "Gandalf and I had a talk about you earlier. Since you don't seem to have any memories at all, and since he thinks traveling on the road is a life unfit for a young girl... well, we were kind of discussing having you move in with Bilbo and myself until your memories return. At Bag End."

The girl twitched and stared at him in shock.

"Wait... what?" the girl asked, staring at him with furrowed brows. "What did you just say?"

"Well, it hasn't been decided yet, since I still have to talk to Bilbo about it," Frodo admitted, giving her a reluctant expression, "and I was just on my way to do that, actually."

Kate was flabbergasted.

"You want me to move in with you guys?" she asked, voice becoming oddly flat, even for her. "Really?"

"Well, you have nowhere else to go, right?" Frodo quipped, then shook his head and clasped her wrist, pulling her along. "Come with me."

"Hey, wait!" the girl squeaked, stumbling as she was dragged forward by his alarmingly powerful grip. "W-where are we going?!"

"To talk to Bilbo," the boy explained, guiding her through the crowd; Kate blinked when she spotted Gandalf lighting some fireworks nearby, but her eyes widened when an array of sparkling golden butterflies filled the air, making the children that had gathered around him cheer. The older girl's eyes glittered in childish wonder before she was pulled through a tent. "I'm sure he'll say yes... ah, there he is!"

Just as Frodo walked up and was about to tap his shoulder, the old little man whipped around with an expression of fright on his face.

He instantly locked eyes with his nephew and clasped his shoulders: the boy halted with an equally started expression on his face.

"It's the Sackville Bagginses!" Bilbo hissed, staring at the boy with large eyes; Frodo's eyes instantly widened and he hastily ushered his Uncle away, dragging Kate along behind him. "Quickly, hide!"

When Bilbo hid behind a tent flap, Frodo followed him and pulled the captive albino against it as well; the girl blinked with irritated eyes when the two hid from a couple that walked past, looking highly unamused. They glanced around with narrowed eyes, then went off in separate directions: Bilbo instantly let out a sigh.

"Mind if I ask what that was all about?" Katherine demanded, jerking her wrist out of the Hobbit boy's hand and rubbing it with a wince. "Why were we hiding from them?"

"They're after the house," Frodo explained, giving her a small grin, "and the Sackville Bagginses don't take no for an answer."

"Thank you, my boy," Bilbo panted, looking a little worn out. "Your a good lad, Frodo... I've very selfish, you know."

The boy's smile faded and he looked at his uncle with a confused expression, blue eyes flickering in the firelight.

"What do you mean?" he asked, looking at the old man with a tilted head. "You're not selfish."

"Yes, I am," Bilbo retorted, shaking his head without meeting the boy's eyes. "Very selfish. I don't know why I took you in after your mother and father died, but it wasn't out of charity. I think it was because, out of all my numerous relations, you were the one Baggins that showed real spirit."

"Bilbo, have you been at the Gaffer's own brew?" the boy asked, speaking calmly and questioningly.

"No," the old man snorted, looking affronted; then he winced and shrugged, "well, yes, but th-th-that's not the point. The point is, Frodo..."

Here, he paused... and for a long moment, nothing was said.

Kate had half a mind to back out and give them some privacy, since this was obviously a family moment.

But before she could, the old man looked away and finished speaking.

"The point is, you'll be all right," he murmured, lifting his mug to his lips and taking a swig of its contents. "That's all."

"Bilbo, I actually have something I want to talk to you about," Frodo sighed, taking his Uncle's arm and looking at Kate with a nod. "It's about Katherine."

"Oh, you mean that lass with the unusual hair?" the Birthday Hobbit inquired, looking at the ground when they started walking. "Do tell."

"Well, I was wondering..." Frodo began, shrugging his shoulders. "Gandalf and I were - "

Before he could finish... a nearby tent went flying into the air with a flash of yellow light, and he turned with a startled expression. Everyone nearby cheered and gasped, then lifted their mugs as they watched it explode with a series of sparkles. Kate, on the other hand, had paused since it was still going: her eyes widened with wonder when it flew up in the sky and continued growing brighter. Then it began to turn, and the girl's expression slowly shifted from being awed, to concerned since the display had sprouted a pair of burning wings and was slowly circling back around.

When it started flying at them, she started backing away, eyes growing wide with fright rather than awe.

"Bilbo..." Frodo stated, turning and grabbing his Uncle's shoulder. "Bilbo, hurry! Run!"

"Oh, my God!" Kate whispered, eyes growing wide when the flaming beast started soaring directly at them. "This isn't part of the act, is it?"

She got her answer when Hobbits both old and young started running, some falling over tables, others diving down to the ground. Just as Kate turned, someone slammed into her from the side and the two of them went stumbling out of the throng; just when she thought she would crash face-first into a tree, the hobbit gripped her arm and she tripped over the mug he dropped during the commotion. The two of them spun around, lost their balance, and fell on top of each other.

Kate, however, instantly hissed since the boy's elbow smashed her clean in the breast.

"OW!" the albino shrieked, clutching her chest and curling up into a ball. "My boob... fuck! Fuck, fuck, fuck! Ow!"

The Hobbit instantly scrambled away and took off running, but Kate merely remained curled up on the ground.

Frodo was having difficulties of his own.

"Bilbo!" Frodo cried, trying to drag his Uncle down to the ground. "Watch out for the dragon!"

"Dragon?" the old man snorted, not even seeing the burning apparition soaring right at them with its maw open. "Nonsense, there hasn't been a dragon in these parts for a thousand ye-eeeaars!"

Just as he finished, his nephew jerked him down onto the ground. The burning dragon flew overhead and turned into a spinning ball of fire: those who'd fallen slowly glanced up and watched, not knowing what to expect... but then the firework exploded with a flash and the entire sky was lit up with brilliant sparkles. Everyone instantly gasped and started cheering, smiles breaking out all over the place. The hobbits started cheering and clapping, but Kate was too busy assessing the damage done to her body to care.

"Ow..." she croaked, clutching her boob with shaking muscles; then, after a moment of trying not to panic, she rolled her sleeve up and looked at her arm; it had been scraped, and even though it wasn't bleeding outwardly, it was turning purple beneath the skin. "Owie... "

Clutching her arm, the girl slowly stood up and looked around for Gandalf. She searched for a total of ten minutes, and by the time she found him sitting at a table, the scratch on her arm had started swelling up. She felt a similar swelling on her breast: if she didn't do something, she would get internal bleeding, and since she wasn't exactly looking forward to what was going to come... well, let's just say her good mood was ruined. The old man was smoking his pipe, and nearby, two smoke-covered hobbits were washing dishes.

"Gandalf..." the girl murmured, catching his attention; the pained expression on her face made him stiffen. "Do you have any anesthetics?"

"Any what?" the wizard asked, looking at her in blatant confusion. "What are anesthetics?"

"Medicines that make people feel physically numb, or put them asleep," the girl explained, wincing when her arm throbbed. "Just tell me. Do you have any?"

"I have some herbs in my wagon that achieve what you're asking," he explained, taking a puff of his pipe with suspicious eyes, "but I only use them for injuries."

"That's the point," the girl retorted, holding her temper; she instantly showed him her arm, which made his eyes widen. He instantly stood up and hurried over, catching the attention of the two hobbits. "I need them for what I'm going to have to do."

"What on earth happened to you?!" he muttered, looking at the black and blue mark on her pearly skin with furrowed brows. "Is your arm _broken?!"_

_"_No," the girl retorted, wincing. "It's just a scrape... I got knocked over when the dragon thing came soaring at us."

"This, my dear, is the worst scrape I've ever seen," he muttered, puffing on his pipe. "I'll be right back."

So saying, he hurried off towards his wagon, grey robes fluttering behind him.

After digging around in the back, he pulled out a few small pouches and came running back, holding one out to her.

"You must chew them," he explained, watching as she took the pouch. "Is there anything else you require?"

"Yes," the girl explained, looking at him with serious eyes. "I need a clean carving knife, an iron poker, and... fire."

The old man stared at her with a frown, then slowly turned and hurried off; two minutes later, he came back with what she needed, then directed her to a nearby tent with a kettle hanging over a burning fireplace. Slowly moving forward, the girl sat down and opened the pouch, pulling the leaves out and chewing on them: she kept her eyes closed as the scent of herbs filled her nose, and after about seven minutes of chewing, a powerful numb feeling started sweeping from her throat all the way down through her body. Within ten minutes flat, she could no longer feel her limbs.

After lifting her hands and making sure they still worked properly, the girl carefully began undoing the front of her dress. Gandalf turned away when she the albino slid the cloth down to her waist and took the carving knife: after setting the poker into the fire and letting it heat up, the girl shakily tapped the wounds on her chest and arm to make sure she couldn't feel them.

Nothing, not even the sensation of pressure.

"Sir..." she stated softly, staring at her pearly skin with shaken eyes. "I'm going to need a bucket of hot, clean water. And some bandages."

"If that is what you require, so be it," the man stated from behind her; the sound of a tent flap met her ears not long after. "I'll return in but a moment."

"Okay... don't panic, pay close attention to what you're doing, and don't go overboard," Kate whispered, swallowing hard. "I can do this..."

So saying, the girl clenched her jaw and carefully began to cut the skin on her arm open: the blood that had built up beneath her skin spilled out, making her shudder for a moment... but then, she examined her muscle and looked for the bruised area. Once she'd found it, the girl grabbed the hot poker and stuck it in the open wound, squeezing her eyes shut with a trembling mouth.

After that, she pressed the open part of her skin together and scalded the wound closed.

Then she did the same thing to the bruise on her breast.

Since the pain had been deeper, she was extremely careful about cutting herself. She kept her eyes focused and looked for the bruised muscles on her body with scrutinizing eyes, trying not to think of it as her own self. Once she found the source of the internal bleeding, she grabbed the poker again and gently pressed it against the wounds in her muscles, swallowing hard and trying to keep from panicking. Then she pulled the skin together and burned herself until it had closed up completely.

Finally finished, she waited another ten minutes: her arm and her breast had no further bruising as far as she could tell.

She would have to keep an eye on the injuries for a while, though.

Right around that moment, Gandalf opened the tent flap and came in with a bucket in one hand and some rough-looking cloth in the other.

However, the moment she covered her chest and turned to glance at him, his eyes swiveled and locked onto her right shoulder.

Then his expression went dark for some reason.

"My dear, move your hair aside," he stated simply, waiting for her to do as he said; for a moment, Kate was confused... but then she followed his instruction and pulled her long tresses over her shoulder. When the old man walked forward and knelt down, Kate felt highly uncomfortable... a grown man was standing behind her while she was half-naked, and based on the little she'd gathered, all she could do was hope he wasn't a bad person. "How curious... tell me, where did you receive these markings?"

"What markings?" the girl asked, glancing over her shoulder and trying to see what he was talking about. "Miss Figg said that I had marks on my back earlier, too, but if I do have them, they aren't causing me any pain. It probably happened when I fell into the sea."

"These markings were not caused by an injury," the man stated gravely, touching the same spot that the little hobbit woman had; pain instantly seared through her back, making her twitch and lean forward. "Did that hurt?"

"Yes, it did," she stated weakly, not feeling right for some reason. "Does it look bad?"

"Not at all," the old man muttered, "but somehow, I have a feeling that something much deeper is going on here. Those markings are elvish, but I know not what they mean, nor why they form the shape of a ring. And the symbol in the center... I've never seen anything like it."

"Wait, what did you say was on my back?!" the girl demanded, whirling to look at him; it was only then that he noticed the blood on her arm and stomach. "A ring made of... hold on, what's that supposed to mean?! What's wrong with my back?!"

"My dear, you are bleeding," the blue-eyed man noted, nodding et her arm. "I think you should take care of that first."

"I've already burned the wound shut," Kate retorted, holding up her arm. "Now I just have to be more careful, that's all. My blood may not clot, but my body heals normally."

Just as she was about to ask about the ring of symbols or whatever that had appeared on her back, the girl froze.

Her expression slowly tensed as an odd, demonic whispering filled the air around her, making the hair on her neck stand up.

"What is it?" Gandalf asked, taking note of her expression. "Are you all right?"

"Do you hear that?" Katherine finally asked, slowly looking around and lifting her arms to cover her bare chest. "Those whispers? It's the third time I've heard them today."

"Whispers?" the old man snorted, staring at her with a serious frown. "No, I can't say that I do."

However, Gandalf's eyes had lit up with shocking intensity and he was frowning as though he knew something she didn't.

"Well, it's probably nothing, then," Kate stated simply, washing her arm off and wincing when a twinge went through her; after cleaning her chest and wrapping herself up with the cloth, the girl slid the dress back on and fastened it back in place. Then she turned and held out the pouch of dried plants. "Anyway, thank you for letting me use these herbs or whatever they are..."

"Keep it," he replied, shaking his head. "You have more need of it than anyone else at the moment."

Kate blinked and nodded gratefully, since she was indeed going to be in for some serious pain later.

"Do you know where Frodo is?" the albino inquired, flicking her hair over her shoulder. "I want to talk to him about something."

"I do, as well," Gandalf chuckled, eyes softening in an instant at the mention of the hobbit. "Why don't we go look for him together."

Giving him a small shrug, the girl headed towards the tent entrance to go find Frodo. Gandalf followed her without a word. When they made it back to the party, Bilbo was standing up on a large stool and giving a very exuberant speech about the party everyone had come to attend. But then, somewhere during the speech, everyone went quiet and Gandalf turned, quirking an eyebrow as he puffed on his pipe. Beside him, Katherine was still looking for Frodo: her eyes swept through the crowd.

"I regret to announce that this is the end," Bilbo called, voice sweeping through a crowd so silent that a pin could have been heard dropping to the ground. "I'm going now."

_Where is he? _Kate wondered, feeling frustrated as she searched for a familiar curly head. _He shouldn't be that hard to find, right?_

"I bid you all a very fond farewell," Bilbo exclaimed, speaking aloud just as Kate finally spotted Frodo and sighed in relief. "Goodbye..."

"Frodo!" Kate called, lifting her arm. "Hey, Fro-"

Before she could finish the sentence, her shoulder erupted with burning agony and a wave of wind roared at her from the podium: her silver hair exploded outwards and away from her before floating back down in a weightless manner. Katherine instantly choked and fell to her knees, winded in more ways than one. Then she looked up, hearing an odd rushing noise in her ear: everything was shaking... her vision was cloudy as though she were underwater.

All around her were shadows, flickering shadows.

"_What the fuck?!_" the girl cried, voice bubbling out of her mouth and echoing away into the distance; she clutched her burning shoulder with a whimper, then slowly looked at her hands; her eyes widened when she realized her dress was billowing around. "_What's going on?!"_

No answer.

From anyone.

When she glanced beside her and looked for Gandalf, she jumped since a blinding white figure had replaced him: it was looking around as though it were searching for something. Kate backed away from it, then realized that it was holding a pipe. She blinked: that was Gandalf. Instantly hurrying forward, the girl clutched the old man's robes and shook them, trying to make sense of things.

"_Gandalf!_" she cried, watching as the figure jumped and looked down; two hands instantly touched her drifting hair and the figure's shoulders stiffened. _"Gandalf, what's going on?! Why are you glowing, and why is this happening?! Help me!"_

The figure didn't move, merely touched her head and shoulders in an uncertain way, almost as if it couldn't see her.

_"GANDALF!"_ the girl shouted, shaking his robes. "_LISTEN TO ME!"_

Unfortunately, that's when she heard it... a familiar banshee screech, echoing towards her from somewhere in the darkness.

She instantly jumped and whirled around, squeezing the wizard's robes as more screeches rose up.

Slowly shaking her head, the girl pressed herself against the old man's abdomen and started shivering violently, large eyes scanning the darkness.

Then, before she could blink, the wizard wrapped his arms around her and the world vanished in a blur.

All of a sudden, she was standing in Bag End's kitchen.

The glowing figure clutched her arm with gentle motions and pulled her through the house, then sat her down on a chair and knelt in front of her.

His hands kept brushing through the floating tendrils of her hair, and he kept pushing them away as though they were cobwebs: finally, he set his hand against her cheek. She didn't feel his warmth, only the pressure, and even then it was a stretch. Still, that could have been because of the herbs. Kate felt her heart speeding up, since she was finding it hard to breathe: the air around her was full of darkness, and the flickering sensation was making her dizzy. The world around her spun in and out, zooming in and away in a fairly nauseating manner: her eyes trembled.

Slowly beginning to go limp, the girl clutched the man's shoulders and held onto him, feeling herself getting close to passing out.

Spots flickered in front of her eyes... but then, the front door opened and a familiar hobbit walked in.

"_Bilbo!_" the girl cried, voice echoing towards him; he paused, looking around, but then he merely shut the door. "_Bilbo, please! Help me!"_

He didn't seem to hear her... but before she could pass out, he took something off his finger.

And with a flash, color returned to the world and Kate took a gasping breath as life rushed back into her body. Her long hair instantly cascaded back down around her shoulders as normal air roared into her lungs: Gandalf jumped and leaned backwards with a startled expression when the girl began coughing, frantically drawing in breath and shivering madly. Her pupils were so dilated that they'd practically obscured her irises, and her face was very near to being bloodless.

"W-what the fuck just happened to me?!" she choked, looking at the man with huge eyes. "What the FUCK! You were glowing, and everything went all strange! I couldn't talk right, and it felt like I couldn't breathe! And... and... I heard these screeches! It was those THINGS that attacked me and my brother!"

Gandalf's eyes flashed and he clutched her shoulders.

"Remain calm," he stated firmly, then stood up and walked into the main living room. "I will be back in a moment."

"Remain calm?" the girl choked, resisting the urge to pull her hair out. "Are you nuts?! How can I remain calm?! What the FUCK is HAPPENING TO ME?!"

Unfortunately, no answer came... although some part of her was sure that she wouldn't like it when it did.


	15. Chapter 14: Within Temptation

**Chapter Fourteen: Within Temptation**

"What the fuck is happening to me?" Kate whimpered, hugging herself and rocking back and forth with shivering limbs. "What the fuck...? What the fuck...?!"

She was still in shock.

That had to be it.

Why else would she feel as though the center of her being had been coated with ice? Why else would she feel so cold inside? It was frigid... not in an emotional way, either, but in a way that seemed to have chilled the very marrow of her bones.

Hell, even beyond that: right down to her soul, she felt cold.

"Well," Gandalf suddenly stated from the other room, "I suppose you think that was terribly clever."

"Oh, come on Gandalf!" Bilbo chuckled; when Kate glanced up at the doorway, she saw the hobbit pattering into view and out again. "Did you see the look on their faces?!"

"There are many magic rings in this world, Bilbo Baggins," Gandalf stated firmly, "and _none_ of them should be used likely!"

"It was just a bit of fun!" Bilbo the hobbit protested; but then, after a moment's pause, he reluctantly conceded, "oh, you're probably right, as usual."

_Did he not even notice what he did to me?! _Kate wondered, feeling bile rising up her throat. _He was the only one I could see clearly, so why couldn't he see me? I called out to him, for Christ's sake!_

"You will keep an eye on Frodo, won't you?" Bilbo carefully asked, packing his things. "I won't be returning."

"Two eyes, as often as I can spare them," the old wizard stated. "Now, about Katherine..."

"What about her?" Bilbo inquired, glancing up.

"I would like for her to stay here," Gandalf explained, "until I am absolutely certain of something."

"Eh?" Bilbo snorted, sounding surprised. "There hasn't been a lady living in Bag End for almost sixty years. Well... bah, I guess if Frodo is fine with it, by all means. I'm leaving everything to him, after all."

"What about that ring of yours?" Gandalf inquired, making Kate swallow; slowly getting to her feet, the girl slowly moved through the kitchen and out into the hall, trying to remain completely silent. Her muscles were still shaking, but she tried nonetheless. After a moment, she slowly peered around the corner, trying to see what was going on. Bilbo was currently puttering around without paying much attention to the tall man, who was standing near the fireplace. "Is that staying, too?"

"Yes, yes," Bilbo sighed, waving a nonchalant hand "It's over there, in an envelope on the mantle."

"Ah," Gandalf murmured. "Good."

When he turned, Kate blinked since the Hobbit paused with furrowed brows.

Then, slowly lowering a hand, the little man touched his pants.

"No..." he murmured, seeming confused. "No, wait... it's... it's right here. In my pocket."

When he slid his fingers into his trousers, Katherine stiffened and looked around since the whispers she'd heard earlier began to fill the air. Those whispers intensified when he slowly pulled a small golden ring into the open and held it up.

The albino's flickering eyes slowly widened when her shoulder twinged, and the moment she set her eyes on it, the whispers all around her intensified into a low, demonic chant.

Whispering a litany of evil that she didn't understand.

_What the hell is this...?_ the girl silently wondered, feeling herself growing even colder. _Is the whispering seriously coming from... that ring?_

_"_Isn't that odd...?" Bilbo stated softly, looking at the ring with transfixed eyes. "After all... why not? Why shouldn't I keep it?"

"I think you should leave the ring behind," Gandalf stated, slowly moving forward. "Is that so hard?"

Bilbo instantly whirled around, expression becoming an odd mixture of calm and angry.

"Well, no," he stated simply, then turned back around and fondled the piece of jewelry before his expression darkened and he viciously added, "and yes. Now that it's come to it, I don't feeling like parting with it. It's mine, I found it, it came to me!"

"There's no need to get angry," Gandalf replied, eyes widening slightly in concern.

"Well, if I'm angry it's _your _fault!" Bilbo barked, not turning around; Kate's throat closed up when the little man's mouth twisted into a psychotic smile. Not long after, he started petting the ring with shaking fingers. "It's mine... my own... my _Precious."_

Her heart nearly stopped.

Clutching her chest and whirling back against the wall, the girl tried to keep from hyperventilating as the vision came back to her. The vision of the little blonde boy.

_Something is seriously wrong with this place!_ the girl silently wailed, heart thudding a mile a minute. _I can't take it. I have to find a way home. I have to find Nathaniel before it's too late!_

"Precious?" Gandalf murmured, voice weaving over to where the girl was hiding. "It's been called that before, but not by you."

Kate blinked and slowly peered back into the room, not comprehending what she'd heard.

Did Gandalf know something?

"So?" Bilbo snarled, moving towards the corridor Kate was hiding in. "What business is it of yours what I do with my own things?!"

"I think you've had that ring long enough," Gandalf stated seriously.

"You want it for yourself!" Bilbo accused, spluttering in a mad fit of rage. "You want to steal it!"

Gandalf's reaction was instantaneous.

"BILBO BAGGINS!" the wizard roared, making the hobbit gasp and fall back against the wall in terror; similarly, Kate jumped so high that her legs gave out when she hit the ground again. Her eyes grew wide when she beheld the suddenly-looming man, who seemed to be sucking the light right out of the air with his presence. "DO NOT TAKE ME FOR SOME CONJURER OF CHEAP TRICKS! I AM NOT TRYING TO ROB YOU!"

_What the hell?! _Kate silently squealed, face growing taught. _Note to self: never piss off a wizard._

After a moment, the room slowly became lighter and the man's face relaxed.

In fact, from what Katherine could see, his eyes even softened a great deal.

"I'm trying to help you, Bilbo," he stated firmly, giving the hobbit a knowing stare; then he opened his arms; Bilbo, looking like a child that had just gotten reprimanded, ran into his arms and embraced him. "In all your long years, I've been your friend. Trust me as you once did... let it go."

"You're right, Gandalf... the ring must go to Frodo," Bilbo stated, looking like himself again; so saying, he grabbed his pack and slid it over his shoulders before hefting a nearby walking staff; Kate finally stood back up and hesitantly made her way out into the room, knees shaking. "It's late... and the road is long. Yes. It is time."

"Bilbo," the wizard quietly called, just as the Hobbit put a hand on the knob and opened the door. "The ring is still in your pocket."

"Oh, yes," Bilbo nervously chuckled, pulling it out and holding it in his palm; his arm started shaking as he looked at it... then his hand slowly turned and the ring thunked heavily on the wood. When the Hobbit moved outside and paused, looking up at the stars, Gandalf followed him. "I've thought up an end for my book... and he lived happily ever after, for the rest of his days."

"Well, that sounds like a pleasant ending," Gandalf chuckled. "Before you go, Bilbo... walk with me."

So saying, the two men left the little house, and Katherine's eyes drifted to the ring on the floor.

Slowly shaking her hair out of her face, the girl stood up... and took a slow step forward.

Then another... and another.

Her eyes grew progressively more disturbed, since the closer she came, the louder the whispers grew.

_"_This is it..." Katherine whispered, shivering a little. "This is the source of my nightmares."

It was true: she knew it almost instinctively... that this little piece of jewelry was the cause of her hardship. Fingers shaking, the girl hesitantly knelt down and stretched her hand out to it... but then she paused and drew back, feeling uncertain. The golden color was entrancing, making it look supple... beautiful, even... but the whispers coming from it were beyond evil.

They told lies in a language she didn't understand, told her things she didn't want to hear.

Gleaming, hard, cold-and golden.

After a moment, Katherine took a breath and stretched out her hand, attempting to pick it up.

But the moment her skin made contact with the icy substance, a shock seared through her body.

_The burning demon's eye she'd gotten a flash of earlier blotted out her vision again. She heard a hissing litany of rage spitting venom in a silver tongue. _

_"_**___One for the Dark Lord on his dark ___****__throne. __****___In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.___**__"__

__Kate choked when she started to smell her own blood. __

Almost instantaneously, the room returned, but her sight was blotted by a yellow haze and her right shoulder was burning. Within seconds, painful heat swept throughout her fingers, making them feel as though they were blistering.

Katie jerked in pain, stifling a startled yelp.

The ring dropped back to the ground with a heavy clank... but not before an odd series of glowing yellow marks flared up around the edge of its golden surface. The girl slowly tilted her head and stared at the symbols with nervous eyes, still waving her burning skin in the air with a grimace.

"What are you doing?" Gandalf suddenly asked, making the girl abruptly whirl around; the markings on the ring faded the moment her gaze left them, but she was more concerned by the fact that the old man was looking at her as though she'd done something wrong. "Katherine... what did you do?"

"Nothing..." the girl stated simply, standing back up with an uneasy grimace. "Gandalf... that... that _thing_ on the ground... it's the source of the whispering I've been hearing all day. And when I touched it, my shoulder started burning and... I... I saw something strange. I don't understand what it means, but... I have a feeling that I shouldn't touch it again. Ever."

"What did you see?" Gandalf demanded, walking forward with a serious frown. "Tell me."

Katherine's face tensed, and she swallowed hard before shaking her head.

The wizard's eyes narrowed as he scrutinized her.

"Answer me something?" he inquired, watching her expression. "I can't seem to figure out what you could gain from hiding the truth from me, so tell me... why are you?"

"I don't really know," Katherine uncomfortably murmured, glancing away in an effort to avoid his piercing blue gaze. "It's just complicated, I guess..."

"I cannot understand if you do not explain," Gandalf gently told her; when she shook her head again, he ducked down to meet her gaze since he didn't want her to avoid the subject. "I've thought so many times today, but you are very unlike any young lady I've met during the course of my life. Even your mannerisms are peculiar, and you sometimes use words I've never even heard of... so, it would please me greatly if you would tell me the truth about who... or _what... _you are."

The panic Katherine had been suppressing broke through in that moment. Like an ominous black cloud, it swallowed her from the inside out and she started shaking violently.

"I-I can't!" Kate stammered, pupils dilating in terror. "I can't tell you!"

"Why ever not?" Gandalf inquired, tilting his head. "Believe me, you are safe here."

"It's not that! I just can't say anything without sounding crazy!" Kate cried, eyes becoming unbelievably frantic with fright. "That's the problem! When I said that I wasn't from around here, I meant that I _really_ wasn't from around here!"

Gandalf stared at her.

"What do you mean?" he demanded.

"Things are... different where I come from!" Kate choked, shaking her head. "Different to the point that you'll probably think I'm crazy if I explain it! I can't say anything!"

"If that's all you're worried about, fear not," Gandalf retorted, giving her a small grin. "I have heard many a strange tale, and I doubt this one will be different."

Kate couldn't do anything but stare at him.

A part of her wanted to tell the man where she was really from, but her common sense was screaming for her to keep her mouth shut. After a moment, she decided to compromise with herself.

"How do people react to... magic around here?" Katherine finally asked. "As in... you know, inexplicable things?"

"Well, the common folk don't speak of it much," Gandalf explained, thinking about it. "The elves, on the other hand, have many who use magic. I use it as well."

"So, you do?" the girl hesitantly asked. "Then, do you believe that things like... let's say, other worlds... actually exist? Because it's not so much that I have memory loss as it is I have no clue where the fuck I am."

"Pardon?" the wizard repeated, frowning at her. "I don't think I understand..."

"I mean I'm not from here!" Kate stated, covering her ears and burying her face in her knees. "My brother and I aren't from this _world_! And if this place IS somewhere on the Earth that _I_ know... well, I still have no fucking clue where the hell I am! This is totally batshit crazy!"

"Explain yourself a bit clearer," the old man stated, serious demeanor flaring anew. "You say you're not of this world, but how can that be so? And if it is so, where are you from?"

"Earth! I'm from Earth! The planet! The big blue one! Not Middle Earth, just EARTH!" Kate cried, glaring at him in frustration. "I'm from a place called New York City, in the country of America! My hometown is a huge metropolis that has enormous buildings, cars, planes, subways, and a whole bunch of other crap that you've probably never even heard of! What I need to know is how I can get back there! Because where I'm from, Elves and Wizards don't exist, and neither do giant eagles! And in New York, Hobbits are just... Midgets! That's all! That's why I don't get what's going on!"

"I'll say," Gandalf chortled, looking amused by her flustered reaction. "Explain how you arrived."

He wasn't taking her seriously.

Kate felt her heart sinking, but she decided to continue with it anyway.

After all, it was already out in the open.

However, after thinking about it, Kate decided to leave out the part about being possessed.

She felt like it wouldn't be a good idea, since it might put her in a bad situation.

"It really just started out as a normal day for me," Kate stated, looking at the floor. "Then some freaky blonde guy showed up out of the blue and told me that I wasn't in the right place. He said his name was Gwendolyn, and he told me that he was a gatekeeper. He described himself as someone who takes the dead to where they belong."

Gandalf's eyes flashed and he gripped her arm, eyes wide with shock.

"Gwendolyn?" he hissed, looking so stunned that the girl leaned away from him. "Go on, my Dear... this might be more serious than I thought."

"Well, I thought, at the time, that he was just a crazy person, since a lot of people in New York have loose screws... and I ran away from him," the girl explained, shaking her head, "but then, these... _things... _came after me."

"'Things'?" the old man repeated, narrowing his eyes. "What things?"

"I still have no clue what they were," Kate stated simply, shaking her head. "But from what I could see, they looked like... well, wraiths. Dressed in black, with long crooked swords... and they also made this screeching noise. It was loud and horrible... frightening."

Gandalf's eyes widened.

"This sound," he muttered, "describe it more thoroughly."

"Well, truth be told, they sounded like demons," Kate explained, swallowing. "When Gwendolyn appeared again, I ran up to my school's rooftop where my brother was napping, and this dragon creature appeared... I think it was called... a Fell Beast? Then... two huge Eagles showed up: one of them started fighting the dragon creature, and the other grabbed me and my brother."

"Really?" Gandalf murmured, taking a deep pull of his pipe.

"Yes," she stated, thinking back to how the ocean had opened up, "the eagle carried my brother over the ocean, and it opened up. Then Gwendolyn grabbed me and we flew down into the center of the whirlpool: before I could figure out what was going on, we were flying towards the sky instead of going down. But those hooded things came after us on more dragons, and... and... well, after me and my brother were put on him, the eagle got hurt. The two of us fell off his back and went clean into the Ocean. The next day, I went looking for my sibling, and I ran into you."

"Good gracious," the man murmured, seeming to be puzzling something through. "Sounds like you've been through quite a trial."

"You think?" Kate snapped. "Look! I'm not lying about anything! THIS place is NOT where I'm from!"

Gandalf stared at her for a long moment, struggling to comprehend what she was saying.

The girl was certainly telling what she believed was the truth, but still... how could she have come from another world without some sort of proof? Frankly, her expression while she'd said it disturbed him. She looked as though she were terrified of merely mentioning any of this.

_I myself come from another plane of existence... so who's to say that there aren't other places set aside from this one and the one I'm from?_ Gandalf reasoned with himself, frowning when Kate buried her face in her knees. _There's something wrong with this, though... and I know it's not good. ..._

"I've had dreams that come true since I was little," Kate stated softly, catching his attention. "All the time. Sometimes, even when I'm not asleep. But when I touched that ring, I saw something from one of the nightmares I've been having for a long time..."

"What?" Gandalf demanded, looking at her sharply. "What did you see?"

"An eye made of fire," she whispered, shivering violently. "A giant, evil eye that's looking for me... always looking."

Gandalf's brow twitched and his eyes sparked.

"I think you should get some rest," the old man stated in a weary tone. "Today must have been rough on you... go get some sleep."

"What about my brother?!" the girl demanded, looking at him with a glare. "He's not from this place, either! He's out there all alone, and I'm sitting here getting done with a party! Do you know how messed up that is?! My brother is LOST!"

"I'll find him," the wizard stated, giving her a firm expression. "Take the spare room in the back. It's right off the kitchen. And before you do so, let me just say one thing and one thing only: do not disclose what you just told me until I further understand the situation. It is of the highest importance that you keep your origins a secret until I can deem that it safe for you to talk about it."

Kate glowered, but did as she was told: slowly getting to her feet, the girl turned and walked away, leaving the wizard behind. Once she was out of sight, Gandalf turned and slowly bent down to pick up the ring. But the moment his skin made contact, a quick flash of the eye Kate had just described seared behind his vision and he pulled his hand away, looking dumbstruck.

He stared at the ring with large eyes.

Turning away and leaving the ring on the ground, Gandalf sat down in front of the fire and stared at it while he puffed on his pipe. His eyes soon narrowed in thought, and remained that way for an immeasurable amount of time.

"I don't like this..." he muttered, pondering over everything Katherine had said. "It reeks of darkness."

He puffed, thinking over everything... not understanding most of it.

But Gwendolyn... Gandalf knew very well who that name belonged to. In fact, the two had met before, on many occasions, when Gandalf had still been in his youth. It had been back while he'd been under the tutelage of Nienna. Although, back then, the name he had assumed was a different one.

Mandos.

The Lord of the Dead.

"Riddles..." the old man muttered, puffing his pipe. "Riddles of the dark..."

"Bilbo?" a muffled voice called; not even a second later, Frodo threw the door open and ran inside, head whipping about. "Bilbo!"

However, the hobbit halted when he saw the ring on the ground, then bent over and slowly picked it up.

"A precious..." Gandalf muttered, not even noticing that someone had just run into Bag End. "A precious... precious..."

For a long moment, there was silence.

"He's gone, hasn't he?" Frodo softly asked, making the old man's eyes flicker slightly. "He's been talking about this for so long... I didn't think he'd really do it."

The boy slowly walked around the old man sitting in front of the fire and looked at him.

"Gandalf," he quietly called, holding out the ring; the wizard turned and looked at it with somewhat large eyes before he sighed and smiled at the boy.

"Bilbo's ring," he chuckled, blue eyes soft as he held out an open envelope; Frodo plopped the ring inside and watched as Gandalf pulled it away, treating it as though he were handling something hot. As he stamped it, he continued, "don't worry, my boy... he's gone to stay with the elves. He's left you Bag End, along with all of his possessions _and _a rather interesting young lady. The ring is yours now... get it somewhere out of sight."

So saying, he stood up and handed the envelope back to the confused-looking boy before making his way for the door.

"Where are you going?" Frodo called, following him with large eyes.

"I have some things that I must see to," Gandalf explained, ducking under the banisters. "Many things indeed."

"What things?!" Frodo demanded, looking as though he couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"Questions," the man explained, turning around. "Questions that need answering, and a boy that needs to be found."

"But you've only just arrived!" Frodo complained, hurrying after him when he grabbed his hat and opened the door. "I don't understand!"

With that, Gandalf paused.

Slowly turning around, he looked at Frodo with sincere eyes.

"Neither do I," he stated firmly, then leaned down and put a hand on the boy's shoulder. "Keep it secret... keep it safe... and don't let the ring OR Katherine out of your sight for a single moment, because both of them are equally important."

With that, he whirled and left the Hobbit hole.

Katherine, on the other hand, had not gone to sleep. She was standing in front of a crude mirror, staring at her eyes in sheer confusion. Something wasn't right about them... she could tell... but then her pupils grew smaller, and she froze, immediately figuring it out.

"My eyes..." she whispered, staring at her pupils with an open mouth. "My eyes! My eyes! OH, MY GOD!_"_

Frodo instantly ran into the guest room, looking at her with a startled expression.

"Katherine, are you all right?" he asked, walking over and peering at her. "I heard you scream."

"How the hell am I all right?!" the girl cried, touching her silver lashes and blinking rapidly. "What the fuck happened to my eyes?!"

"What do you mean?" the Hobbit asked, quirking an eyebrow when she continued to blink and rub her silver lashes. "Is something wrong with them?"

"My eyes aren't the same!_"_ Kate shrieked, looking down at him in horror. "They're different than before I... h-had the accident!"

"W-what are you talking about?" Frodo asked, not knowing what to think; when Kate turned and angrily pointed at her pupils, the hobbit tilted his head to the side and observed her features with a calculating expression. "I can't see any noticeable problems with them, so why worry yourself? There's nothing all that strange about your eyes... I mean, your appearance _is _a tad unusual, but you're very pretty in your own way."

"Oh, my God!" the girl cried, throwing her hands into the air. "That's not what I mean, Frodo! It's my pupils! My pupils look a cat's!"

"Well, yeah, but didn't they always?" Frodo asked, blinking when the girl stared at him in total shock. "They've done that since I first met you on the road."

"What?!" the girl squeaked, voice hitching high. "No way!"

When Kate looked at herself in the mirror again, she flinched a second time. There was no doubt that the eyes looking back at her were hers... but now, her irises somehow seemed to be radiating their own luminescence even though they honestly weren't. When her pupils contracted again, she jerked away from the mirror with a severe start: her pupils had literally just shrunk into catlike slits.

"Those aren't my eyes..." Kate whimpered fearfully, face going whiter than her hair as she hesitantly touched her eyelashes once again. "Those eyes in the mirror... they aren't mine! Frodo, I remember enough about myself to tell you that those _aren't_ my eyes! Where are my eyes?!"

"Kate, I don't know," the hobbit stated, leaning away with a spooked expression. "I don't know what happened to your eyes."

"What do I do?!" Kate shrieked, pointing at her irises with a terrified expression. "How do I fix this?! These aren't my eyes, Frodo! My eyes don't look like this!"

The hobbit finally took a glance at the mirror, examining it with a calm demeanor.

"Nothing wrong with the mirror from what I can tell," he explained, looking helplessly confused. "So... you're saying that your eyes don't look like they used to?"

"Exactly!" Kate cried, looking at herself in the mirror once again. "What happened to me?!"

Her pupils had expanded again, but they still had an odd shape that wasn't quite a circle... in fact, her eyes really _did_ look like a kitten's now, which was a disturbing thing to realize when she was staring straight into a mirror. When her pupils contracted into thin slits once again, she shivered violently.

This was a very strange sensation.

A sensation that was thoroughly dislikable.

"Well, when Gandalf returns, maybe you can ask him," Frodo suggested, making the girl freeze. "I'm sure he's bound to know. And since you're allowed to stay here, I'm sure things will be all right."

"What?! You mean he... he left? Already?!" the girl asked, staring at him in disbelief. "Seriously?"

"Well, yes... I think he's gone to find your brother," Frodo explained, nodding with a solemn demeanor. "I'm sure he'll return soon."

Sadly, Frodo didn't even know how wrong he was, but the statement seemed to soothe Katherine's distraught mood. After handing her one of Bilbo's old nightgowns and a sleeping cap, the boy left the room and returned to his own. The nightclothes were rather short, and the hem ended just above her shinbone, but at least it fit width-wise.

After undoing her long hair, the girl pulled Emily's black ribbon out of the fancy braids and ran the bristle brush on the side table through her tresses: then, with expert fingers, she braided her snowy locks in a very tight fashion and wrapped her hair into a bun before tying it together with the ribbon.

Then, feeling exhausted, the girl sat down on the small, round-shaped bed and set her head on the pillow. It was a bed that had been stuffed full of hay, and the pillow was a cloth potato sack that had been stuffed full of said hay. But it was soft, and she was tired.

Closing her eyes, the girl slowly fell asleep, fighting back the urge to do it while crying her eyes out.

One thing was absolutely certain.

Wherever she was... it definitely wasn't anywhere she was used to.

_"Emily..."_ Kate whispered as she fell asleep, finally curling up. "_Please... watch over Nathan."_

The only sound that came after was a single tear dripping onto the pillow.

All was silent.


	16. Chapter 15: Star Dreamer

**Chapter ****Fifteen****: ****Star Dreamer**

_The stars were back._

_Katherine was floating in a void, long hair billowing around as she stared up into the face of the most beautiful woman she'd ever seen. _

_However, the woman was weeping without making a sound and staring at her with eyes that only a mother in mourning could have. Her tearful gaze frightened Kate. The girl didn't know why, but the sight of this woman crying absolutely terrified her._

_"Child..." the woman whispered, slowly stepping even closer and brushing light, airy fingers against the albino's cheek. "Dear, sweet child... through the Gates of Destiny, the Hand of Fate was unbound, and the shackles of Shadows have fallen upon you. Again, the curse has begun anew. Do not fall prey to it, I beg you... avert your eyes to it."_

_"Who are you?" Kate whispered, slowly lifting a hand and dazedly trying to touch the woman's pearly skin; her palm went right through her. "Why...?"_

_Why._

_That one word asked so many things._

_Why had she been kidnapped... why had she ended up in a strange world... why this, why that, why the hell was Nathan lost?_

_"Dear, Sweet Child..." the woman stated soothingly, looking down at her with soft blue eyes. "A seed of great evil has begun blooming within you. Resist it no matter the cost. Do not lose yourself to what is to come, for that in itself will lead to your demise. Remain by his side... and all will reveal itself, in good time. The land and skies yearn to finish this cycle of eternal return.__"_

_And with a wave of her hand, she was gone: in her place was an odd, screechy __voice._

_Then, a tug came on her sleeve._

_When she turned, she was standing in a field of flowers, and beside her... a young little Hobbit boy was looking at her with large brown eyes and a big grin. With a blink, Kate realized that she recognized him: he was one of the children that Bilbo had been telling stories to a few days ago. _

_The little boy clasped his hands and swung his shoulders, grinning cheekily before he blushed and held out a little pink flower._

_Kate's eyes widened._

_A_ _primrose._

_The last time she'd seen one was just before Emily had..._

_She cut the thought off before it could finish. _

_"Oh, my gosh," she murmured, blinking rapidly. "Thank you so much__."_

_Feeling a bit awkward,__ she smiled and bent to take the flower_.

_But the moment she touched it, the world flashed and everything changed: all of a sudden, the field was on fire and all around her were burning hobbit holes. _

_The little boy was lying on the ground in front of her. Kate's awkward look slowly shifted into a horrified expression and her mouth opened with a __pent-up__ scream when she saw his face. _

_The boy's pupils were huge and his mouth was wide open, face locked in a grotesque expression of agony._ _Instead of holding a flower, he was clutching a crooked black arrow that was sticking straight out of his stomach. The girl's vision flickered and she looked up when the sound of fire and echoing screams filled the air._

_Her eyes filled with stunned tears and her legs froze when she realized that the Shire was burning._

_Everything was on fire._

_Hobbits were running from shadowy figures that she couldn't quite see, and they were all screaming: some of the hobbits went down and writhed as flaming arrows pierced them, and others were gutted with shadowy swords. The girl's long hair billowed around when she knelt down and shook the child's shoulder: he remained unresponsive, face still locked into that horrible expression. _

_That's when it hit her._

_He was dead._

_This child was dead._

_"Help!" a familiar voice cried, making the girl look up; she choked when she saw __Frodo__ being swarmed by the black figures. "Someone, help me!"_

_She lunged into motion, running so fast that the visions flickered: she had to get to him._

_"__Frodo__!" the girl wailed, stretching her hand out even as her vision went dark around the edges. "__FRODO__!"_

_All of a sudden, he was lying on the ground, expression blank and eyes vacant: his hand fell open as he stared out at nothing, muscles limp, mouth open, and blue eyes wide._

_Dead._

_And in his hand... was a familiar golden ring._

_"No!" the girl wailed. "__FRODO__! GET UP!"_

_The moment she spoke, the nine black figures screeched and began riding towards her, lifting their swords high as they charged._

_"_Katherine...?" _a voice called_. "Hey..."

_Katie's eyes widened and she skidded to a halt, lifting her hands with a scream of terror as the first sword came down._

"HELP!" the albino squealed, flying upright and flailing around so much that she fell off the chair and clean onto the floor. "Ow! Wha... what happened? Where am I?"

"You're... in Bag End," Frodo stated, looking at her with furrowed brows. "You fell asleep in the wicker chair. I just wanted to let you know supper is ready."

"Oh... supper... okay..." she groggily muttered, touching her disheveled hair before slowly crawling to her feet and straightening her pleated skirt. "Right... supper."

When she tried to move past him, he halted her by holding out an arm and barring her way.

"Are you all right?" the hobbit inquired, peering up at her in curiosity before touching the side of her cheek with the back of his hand; she instantly flinched out of reflex, and it made Frodo frown. "Did that hurt? This is odd... you're not burning up with Fever, but for some reason your face looks rather... _green."_

"I just had a bit of a nightmare, that's all," Katie mumbled, carefully moving around his arm. "Give me ten minutes and I'll be back to normal."

However, this was far from the truth: Katherine was anxious... and it was a feeling that had only continued to grow as time had passed. After all, it had been nearly five days since she'd arrived to wherever the hell she was.

Five. Whole. Days.

An entire week full of anxiety, confusion, and silent panic attacks. Even worse, the days had come and gone without any word of Gandalf's return: her brother might have collapsed from dehydration, or gotten hurt, or possibly even...

No.

She wouldn't even think it.

Staring out the window of Bag End's kitchen, the girl drummed her fingers on the picnic-like table as the heaviness weighed her heart down, food completely ignored.

Frodo took note of her mood and kept an observant eye on her as he ate is own meal. In truth, the girl hadn't exactly left the Hobbit Hole since the ill-fated party. Her arm and breast were still hurting, especially since the burns chafed against her itchy school clothes, so going out and running around hadn't been the top activity on her list.

She hadn't even worn anything aside from the night clothes and her school uniform, which she'd washed and pressed herself twice over the last week. Frodo had come and gone during the week, since he constantly worked outside, but the two only ever really saw each other during mealtimes. And it was usually him who did the cooking.

After he left, however, she would do the dishes out of habit: it had always been her job back at Toni's house, and it also helped to clear her thoughts.

But eventually, those thoughts couldn't be ignored anymore.

Slowly glaring at the table, the girl stood up and began pacing back and forth, trying to lessen her anxiety: Frodo merely watched her with observant eyes.

"I just don't get it!" the girl finally sighed, pacing around and rubbing her arms while the hobbit watched her vent. "I mean, it's been nearly six days now, right? Which also means that Gandalf should have been back a while ago, right? And since he isn't, something bad must have happened. God, where is my brother?! What if Nathan is still out there all alone? What if something happened to him?"

"Katherine," Frodo sighed, watching the girl's frantic pacing with a frown. "Don't you think you should calm down?"

"How can I calm down when my _twin _brother is_ MISSING?!"_ the girl squealed back, covering her face with shaking hands. "How can I calm down?!"

"You know," Frodo finally murmured, tiredly putting his fork down, "maybe Gandalf already found him. He had other things to do."

For a long moment, Kate stopped pacing and merely stared at him blankly.

"What other things to do?" Kate retorted, shaking her head. "I mean, if he found my brother, great. But if it were really that easy, I wouldn't be so upset. Nathaniel is too suspicious of other people to follow someone he doesn't know, especially in an environment like this one. There's no way he'd go with Gandalf to who knows where unless I was right there with the two of them."

"Kate, worrying won't get you anything but a headache," Frodo sighed, getting to his feet and walking over; after setting his large hand on her back, the boy smiled and rubbed her shoulder in a soothing manner. "Maybe you should do something that'll get your mind off of this. It may not help very much, but doing _something_ will at least serve as a distraction until Gandalf returns."

"Frodo, are you serious?!" Kate scoffed, looking at him with a helpless expression. "I can't ignore it anymore! The idea of my brother being out there all alone terrifies me!"

"Regardless, you've been pacing for a long while, and your dinner is getting cold," the hobbit pointed out. "I know you want your brother found safe, but Gandalf will find him."

The girl stopped talking and sighed through her nose.

He was right.

Worrying would get her nowhere.

"Fine," Kate stated quietly, letting out a deflated sigh. "Sorry... but right now, I'm not very hungry... I'll try to eat something later on."

"I understand," the Hobbit sighed, nodding with a friendly smile. "It's all right. I'll wrap the left overs up and set them on the table just in case you get hungry later."

"While you do that, I'll wash the dishes," the girl mumbled, slowly getting to her feet. "It's the least I can do."

"Again?" Frodo asked, tilting his head to the side. "Well, okay... but after you're finished, would you like to help me in the garden? I'm sure it would be a nice change from sitting around all day... especially since some of the potatoes have started sprouting."

"If you really think so, okay," the girl mumbled, shrugging as she stood up and collected the dishes.

"Well, if you enjoy growing things, you're more than welcome to join me any time you want from today onward," Frodo continued, smiling at her. "I also have some plans to meet Sam at the tavern later tonight... you're more than welcome to come if you'd like to. I've heard that several of my neighbors have been asking about you, and it would probably ease a few minds if you showed up with me."

"Eh?" Kate asked, feeling mildly surprised. "People were asking about me?"

When Frodo nodded, the girl thought about it with a frown.

She hadn't really done anything aside from sit around and do chores... perhaps a little excursion with Frodo would help get her mind off her anxiety.

"Yes, many were asking about you," Frodo explained, folding his arms. "So, will you come?"

"Fine, I guess I'll go with you," she grumbled, then she shook her head and brought the plates over to the tray. "Time to get to the dishes."

Letting out a huff, the girl set them down on top of the tray and lifted the board into her arms. Ignoring Frodo's gaze, Katie hefted the dishes outside and over to a small section of grass before taking off her dress shoes and stockings.

Then, after shrugging her blazer off, the albino grabbed a bucket and started pumping water into it, face taught with concentration. Until two days ago, Katherine hadn't fully realized just how far behind in technological development the world she'd ended up in really was. It was mostly little things, but it was a big deal to her.

For example, there were no electrical outlet's in the walls of Bag End, and all of the lights came from oil lamps and candles. Foods that were quick to expire also couldn't be kept for a long time, since they hadn't invented a refrigerator yet.

Which also, once again, ran on electricity.

There wasn't even any running water in the kitchen: no sink, no faucet, nothing. Washing the dishes was a pretty big chore in comparison to how it was back home: she had to pump the water herself and wash them in a bucket outside. There were two places she could get clean water: the pump, and a nearby well that she was _way_ too scared to approach since it was nearly identical to the well she'd seen in the movie '_The Ring'_ two years ago.

There were also no modern vehicles, and no modern bathrooms: everything was horse-pulled, and there were outhouses instead of toilets

"I wish I was a genius with cars and modern things like Nathan..." the girl grumbled as she scrubbed. "If I knew how it all worked, maybe I could find a way to give these old-age folks a hand with new-age conveniences. Such as a working toilet, for example."

However, there were also other things that tried to eat away at her, and each time, she felt the cold creeps crawling across her flesh: she'd been in one crap storm after another since showing up in wherever the hell this was, so there hadn't exactly been any time to think. There had been no time to ask the basic questions.

_Why am I here?_ Kate wondered hazily, feeling her long hair twisting in the breeze._ This is impossible... _

Even after a week, the poor girl was desperately holding onto a philosophy that belonged to an entirely different universe. Because that, as it turns out, is what she now believed this place to be: an alternate reality that was different from her own, but similar enough to resemble it.

Outwardly, she was the epitome of a girl who had no feelings. Inside, she was waiting for the next nightmare to come popping up out of nowhere and do to her what she had done to the monster on the New York Harbor.

She shivered when the beast's screech of death echoed in her ears.

"Kate," Frodo called, making the girl pause in her scrubbing. "I've set the food on the table! Is it all right if I bring the last dish out?"

"Sure!" the girl called back, returning to scrubbing. "I'll be done soon!"

He instantly hurried over and set it on the tray as well, then grinned at her and walked back inside. True to her word, she started scrubbing with all her might, thinking about her brother and everything that had happened.

After a moment, she sighed, washing the plates with a somewhat glazed look in her eyes. Eventually she had nothing left to scrub, and for a long moment, she sat there on her knees, staring off into space.

"Nathan," she quietly hummed, eyes saddening immensely. "Please be okay..."

On that note, the girl stood up and carried the tray inside with a sigh, setting the clean dishes on the table. After putting them away, she went back outside and pulled her shoes and stockings on before looking around the Hobbit Hole for Frodo: after making sure he wasn't busy doing something in one of the rooms, she walked out back and found him squatting in the dirt with a pair of leather gloves on.

A watering can was resting beside him.

When she closed the door, he beamed at her, then gently prodded the earth.

"They've started sprouting!" he quietly exclaimed, waving her over. "Look, Katherine! Look!"

The girl blinked and hesitantly stepped over, then held her skirt against her backside to keep it out of the dirt and squatted down as well: she blinked again when she beheld tiny green plants poking out above the earthy soil. In a way, it was kind of amazing... the little plants looked so tiny and helpless that she probably would have walked right past them on a normal day.

But, in a way, it was also kind of sad.

"They're growing," she murmured, hooking a strand of hair behind her ear. "I'll give you that much."

"It's all thanks to my hard work," he happily explained, excitedly grabbing her arm and pointing at the sprouts. "I grew these myself! I love growing things... it always gives me such a thrill when I see them sprouting each year. It makes me feel like a parent of sorts."

"A... parent?" the girl asked, staring at him in surprise. "What do you mean?"

"Well, when I first plant a seed, I need to take care of it from the time it's small so it'll get big," he explained, thinking about it. "A lot of work goes into making sure it's a healthy plant, and by the time it's ready to harvest, I feel like a parent and an odd sort of attachment grows. Ever since I was small, I've felt this way about plants... I think it's because, deep down, I really wanted to know what my parents felt like when they had me."

Kate's brows raised ever so slightly before her eyes saddened. She hadn't really thought about it until then, but Frodo was an orphan as well: she'd barely remembered what Bilbo had told him because of everything that had happened.

"I understand the feeling," Kate reluctantly muttered, ignoring his glance of surprise in favor of staring at the plant. "I don't... have parents either. They died in a fire when I was a little girl."

"Ah," he sighed, nodding with solemn eyes. "My condolences."

"It was a long time ago. There's no need for that," Kate murmured, feeling grumpy. "And anyway, we're not all that different in how we handled that sadness... at one point, even I had my own garden... it was in a small grove behind the house I was staying in."

It was true.

In a small grove surrounded by a ring of apple trees, her garden had been tended to in secrecy... the trees had been blooming when she'd found them, and in the very center of the ring, an unmarked grave had been lying all alone.

Katherine had been so saddened by the fact that someone had been forgotten so easily that she'd planted her favorite flowers there to honor them.

Before she'd met Miss McKinley, who'd actually had a fairly hard time getting past her walls, that place had been her sanctuary.

Even _after_ the library had become her haven, she'd still tended to her garden, sometimes for so long that she'd pretty much become a part of the scenery. In fact, wild deer had sometimes passed through while she'd been taking care of the blooming Apple Blossoms and budding violets: they'd given no heed to her presence because the albino had smelled almost exactly like the flowers she'd always taken care of.

She emptily stared off into space, thinking about her secret garden. She vaguely wondered if the flowers would still bloom without her tender care.

"Do you remember them?" Frodo suddenly asked. "Your parents, I mean."

For a long moment, the strangest expression seemed to flash through the girl's eyes.

Then she hastily glanced away.

"I only remember one thing about my parents..." Kate said softly, not lifting her eyes; her square-cut bangs had shifted across her face, hiding her irises from view. "I look just like my mother, but I have my father's eyes."

Frodo frowned: there was something in the girl's voice that he simply could not identify.

Was it pain? Sadness? Anger? Grief?

He wasn't sure: it could have been none of them or all.

Slowly taking her hand, the boy directed it to the watering can and wrapped her fingers around it: when she stared at him, he smiled a little.

"I understand," he stated simply, then gestured at the little plant in front of him. "Taking care of another helps make it fade. So... this little one is yours now."

"Eh?" Kate asked, feeling startled. "Wait, what?"

"Take care of him," the boy chuckled, folding his arms and giving her a firm stare. "Water him."

The girl stared at the hobbit with her mouth hanging open... then closed it and swallowed before gently doing as she was told. Tipping the watering can, she carefully watered the potato plant until it was gleaming with moisture.

Then she pulled back and looked at it.

"Is that about right?" she asked, feeling highly unnerved. "I've never actually grown a potato plant before."

"It looked right," he stated gently, nodding before he stood up and held out his hand. "I've already watered the others, and the carrots have been tended to. The sun is getting ready to go down, and since I'm sure Sam is probably already waiting for me at the pub... would you like to come with me?"

Katie swallowed and stared at his gloved hand before slowly setting her palm in his. When he tugged her upright, she was once again taken aback by how strong he was: he'd lifted her as easily as a grown man would have.

"Have I ever told you that you're stronger than you look?" the girl inquired, dusting her hand off. "It's kind of surprising for someone around my own age."

"Pardon?" Frodo asked, blinking at her with startled eyes. "What did you just say?"

"I said... you're strong?" the girl asked, tilting her head in obvious confusion. "And that it's kind of surprising?"

"No, not that. Did you just suggest... that I'm around the same age as you?" Frodo asked, mouth spreading into a huge grin. "Um... I don't know what to say. Is that compliment or an insult?"

Kate was lost by that point.

"I don't know anymore..." the girl muttered, looking to the left and back with a somewhat tense demeanor. "I think I might be confused."

"I think you are, too," Frodo chuckled, beaming at her with laughter in his teal eyes. "Katherine, I'm aged thirty and three years!"

The girl merely stared at him, not processing what he'd just said for a long moment.

However, when it hit her, her eyes went wide and her jaw hit the floor.

"WHAT?!" she cried, not believing it for a second. "No way! You are totally _not_ in your thirties! It's not possible! I mean, you don't look a day older than sixteen!"

"It's true," the hobbit boy... _man_... laughed. "I'm thirty and three years!"

Kate thought back to Bilbo's appearance and covered her mouth in horror: he'd looked maybe about forty or fifty... but hadn't it been his hundred and eleventh birthday?!

"But... but... if you're thirty three... then, what about... your friends?!" Kate demanded, eye twitching. "You know, Pippin, Sam, Merry... the others!"

"Merry is twenty and eight years, Sam is thirty and five, and Pippin is twenty and one," Frodo explained, smiling at her. "Which reminds me... how old are you?"

Kate's eyes widened and she stared at the ground, stunned to her core.

The boy... er, _man_... who had been flirting with her was six years older than she was.

"F... fifteen," the girl squeaked, voice coming out unbearably high; likewise, Frodo's eyes widened as well and he seemed stunned. "Or rather, ten... and five years...?"

"You're just a child!" he exclaimed, looking totally shocked. "I thought you were older! A _lot_ older! Your demeanor gives you a very mature and collected air!"

"Nope," Kate stammered, feeling incredibly dizzy. "I'm only fifteen... my brother and I are both the same age."

"You're still a child..." he stated simply, rubbing his temple with a sigh; he looked rather dazed by the news. "Well, this is extremely surprising. You can still come with me to the pub, but you're not touching ANY of the ales or brews, are we clear?"

"I wasn't planning on it," the girl stated crossly, eyes sharpening in an instant. "I can't have alcohol because of my condition. Even if I WAS old enough, I can't."

"Ah... well, if you're ready, we can go now," the boy... man... HOBBIT... murmured. "It's getting rather late as it is."

"Yeah..." the girl droned, nodding and watching as he made his way to the door. "I'm coming."

And so, she did: she followed him clean out of the house.

Her brain was too fried to do much else.

By the time they started along the road, the sun had slid below the horizon and twilight had descended upon Hobbiton.

Kate stared at the sky.

Strands of her snowy hair played with the wind and her skirt was ruffled in the cool nighttime air as she walked.

There were different stars here, she was pretty sure... hell, she wasn't just sure, she knew it: the sky above her looked different. There was no North Star... the big dipper was gone, and instead of seeing just a myriad of dots in the sky, it was almost as if the heavens had opened their doors and unleashed their splendor.

The dark, night sky was full of light and color... flecks of green, distant galaxies...

It was beautiful, but in a cold, lonely way.

This world had a moon, too, but it was larger and much paler than the one she was used to.

"Where am I?" Kate sighed, gazing up at the stars without even realizing that Frodo had glanced back at her. "This place... it's nothing like where I'm from."

"Well, that may be so," the Hobbit intervened, turning around and walking backwards, "but the Shire is a wonderful place. I'm sure you'll come to see that, as well."

The girl didn't respond; merely looked into the abyss of beauty resting so high above her. Slowly lifting her hand, she stretched her fingers out to the stars, wondering if the real Earth was hidden somewhere among them. She slowly stopped walking and held her hand out, praying someone would take it... someone from the real world, anyone. Her hand trembled as she held it out to the sky.

Glitter and diamonds... that's what these stars looked like to her watering eyes.

They were so cold.

Unfamiliar.

And she was here, alone, the only one who didn't know them.

Slowly lowering her hand, the girl shivered and continued staring at the sky with bleak eyes.

She wanted to go home.

Not to Toni... but to the world.

_Her_ world.

Kate's eyes finally fell and landed on the dirt.

She didn't want to raise them to the sky again.

If she lifted her eyes, she would see things that made her sad.

As she started walking down the dirt path and moved past Frodo, she didn't notice how intensely the Hobbit was looking at her. The girl kept her eyes trained on the ground even when he trotted up again and moved in front of her, since she wasn't really paying attention to where she was walking. However, along the road to nowhere, more thoughts and worries about her home and her brother sprang up.

How would all of those horrible people at school react once word got out that she had been kidnapped by a freaky guy with wings?

How would her vanishing affect Miss McKinley?

Would anybody feel guilty about their actions?

No, that last worry was probably groundless.

They'd most likely cheer and throw a party since the so-called witch was finally gone. Katie's eyes filled with tears, and her vision became so blurred that she couldn't even see where she was going: she started rubbing her eyes and hiccupped when the crying began all over again, but before she could really start, muffled laughter and drunken song coming from nearby made her freeze.

The last thing she wanted was to be caught crying.

"We're almost there," Frodo stated, pointing at a nearby building. "That's the tavern."

"I can tell," the girl muttered, staring at the lights flickering in the windows as more laughter ensued. "So, you're meeting Sam here?"

"Well, of course," Frodo chuckled, giving her a sweet smile. "He needs an excuse to see Rosie, right?"

"Eh?" the girl snorted, lifting a brow. "What do you mean?"

"You'll see," the Hobbit stated, smugly opening the door and walking inside. "He's head over heels."

Kate blinked and her nose wrinkled when the scent of cooking food mixed with sweat, beer, and smoke assaulted her. The first thing she noticed was that the whole building was crammed full of Hobbits: they all seemed to be engaged in swaggering around, talking in loud voices and clapping one another on the back, but the rest were drinking quietly at their own tables. Some of the Hobbits looked like punks: drunk, glaring, mad-at-the-world, don't-make-me-kick-your-ass punks.

But for the most part, everyone was a sober, bright-looking crowd.

What was more... Kate was a good foot shorter than the average teenage girl, but she was literally the fifth tallest person inside the building.

The only consolation was that the other taller people were _also_ women.

_Maybe the women are just bigger, _the girl silently concluded, looking around at the waitresses with curious eyes. _They're most certainly not skinnier, though._

It was true: she had yet to see a Hobbit that didn't have a thickset proportion to their bone structure... well, at least, not until she spotted someone from Bilbio's party.

A beautiful blonde with curls stretching down to her shoulder blades was standing near the corner of the room: she was currently locking eyes with a familiar youth with sandy blonde hair and a somewhat gentle expression.

The blonde girl was literally the closest thing to a normal person that Katherine had seen in what felt like a very long time: she was fairly slender in comparison to the other women around her, and in New York, she could have passed off as an average-looking teen with curves in all the right places.

Still her eyes were brighter than most of the girls' back home, and there was definitely a rare appeal in her smile.

Katherine glued herself to Frodo's side since several hobbits glanced at her the moment she entered. Then she looked at the building itself and tilted her head: timber planks that had been roughly plastered against the sides of the burrow surrounded her. The roof was supported by massive wooden beams.

"Go ahead and take a seat next to old Gaffer, over there," Frodo stated, patting her arm and pointing at a rather stoic-looking crowd of Hobbits. "Since I'm sure you're still hungry, feel free to order something. I'll be over in a few minutes, but for now, I'm gonna go talk to Sam."

"O-okay," Kate murmured, nodding when he walked off; slowly turning her head, the girl glanced at the older-looking hobbits and slowly made her way over to the table. Then, after finding an opening in their conversation, she tapped the wood and tilted her head. "Hey, do you mind if I take a seat here while I wait for Frodo?"

The hobbits stared at her blankly, all of them looking at her features in confusion.

Then, one of them spoke up.

"Oh, she must that Royal lass Gandalf brought!" a chubby hobbit explained, eyes lighting up with recognition. "Ya know, the one who recently moved into Bag End?"

"Royal?" one of the other hobbits snorted, looking at him with a raised eyebrow. "Her?"

"Old Matilda Figg was gushing about it a few days ago when I went to pick up my clothes," the man proudly explained, glancing at the girl and patting an empty seat with a delighted grin. "She claimed that she had a run-in with a girl who had some rather peculiar coloring, but she told me to be respectful since she's royalty. I saw you at the party, my dear... you looked rather fetching in that red gown."

"Um... thank you?" Kate peeped, hesitantly sitting down between two of the hobbits. "Anyway... what do they have on the menu?"

"Well, depends on what you want," the one beside her gruffly retorted. "Bread, meat, cheese, vegetables, soup, fish... they have it all."

"I think some bread and cheese might be nice," the girl mumbled, tilting her head in confusion. "And maybe some... soup."

"Oi, Rosie!" the man beside her barked, catching the attention of the girl standing in the corner. "I'd like a loaf of bread and some cheese, with soup!"

"Coming right up!" the hobbit woman called, giving him a dazzling grin before whisking out of sight.

"There ya go, on the house," he chuckled, ignoring how the girl paled. "Anyway, the name's Gaffer. I'm Sam's pap, and one of Bilbo's gardeners. Now, how did you happen to meet Gandalf, of all people?"

"It's a very, very long and confusing story," the girl explained, touching her head when it began to pound. "I don't... really remember anything. I got into accident along the road, and... well, I lost almost all of my memories. All I really know at this point is that I have a brother who's lost out there somewhere, and pretty much everything else you may or may not have heard about me is most likely true."

A woman appeared only a moment after she finished speaking, carrying a tray. Without a word, she set it down and walked away. Kate took a look at the contents: a loaf of warm bread, a single, big bowl of soup, a hunk of delicious-looking cheese, and two deep-cut bowls-one water, and the other...

"Beer?" Kate asked, feeling thoroughly confused. "Um... I don't drink."

The uproarious laughter in answer to the girl's honest statement made her blink in confusion.

"Live a little," one of the hobbits loudly laughed. "Come on, just one."

"I don't drink," Kate coldly repeated, violet eyes sharpening. "Ever."

Silence met her words for a moment.

"Sorry," the man stated, looking a little taken-aback. "It's just... well, it's not like it's going to affect you that much, so what's the harm in having one or two?"

"It's dangerous," the albino girl told him softly, slowly pushing the cup away. "That's the harm."

When the men started to laugh again, her brow twitched in frustration. Kate had an intense fear of alcohol, and she was terrified of what she might do if she became drunk... she had always wondered if she would be a sad drunk, an angry drunk, a happy drunk, or a lonely drunk, but she didn't want to find out.

She didn't want to experience the cause of Toni and AJ's violence.

They had always been twice as abusive after getting inebriated.

Plus, with the type of albinism she had, her body wouldn't be able to get it out of her system normally. It would make her severely sick if she drank.

The problem was that nobody else in the pub seemed to think that fun could be spelled without it.

To her, it seemed as though it would be a very long evening indeed.


	17. Chapter 16: Drunken Departure

**Chapter Sixteen: Drunken Departure**

Pippin and Merry were dancing on a table.

Kate barely registered this, since she was currently immersed with keeping an eye on Frodo and Sam, and since the whole place was already loud and chaotic... well, it was only a passing thought that the two of them were dancing and singing a song. In their hands were two mugs, and as they danced in circles, ale splashed out; however, nobody really seemed to care, and since everyone was in a good mood, Kate pretty much ignored the mess they were making.

Being OCD in a place where hygiene was practically nonexistent was murder, but she figured she'd have to get used to it until she found a way home.

Eventually, she finished eating and just sat back, listening to the chatter.

If not for the smells, she could almost pretend she was in her school cafeteria, waiting for the bell to ring.

"'Ey, everybody! Thanks for listening!" Pippin suddenly laughed; there was an answering cheer from the men sitting and standing around the table. "I want to give a particularly special toast since we have a very lovely guest in our midst tonight! So, come on up here, Miss Katherine!"

Katie's eyes snapped open and she blinked, staring at him in alarm.

"Eh?! Me?!" the albino squeaked, practically falling out of her chair when every hobbit in the room turned and gazed at her; eyebrows instantly shot up all over the place and murmured whispers about her unusual looks were soon echoing around the room; slowly, with all eyes fixed on her, Kate uneasily stood up and approached the table that Merry and Pippin were standing on. "Um... awkward..."

However, when the curly-headed youth raised a mug full of a clear liquid and held it out to her, Kate recognized the scent coming from it.

Alcohol.

Before she could protest, Pippin pushed the mug into her hands.

"I reckon we should all drink to her health, eh?!" the hobbit cheered, ignoring how the girl twitched in alarm; similarly, Frodo looked up with large eyes. "Everybody, find yourselves a drink."

Katie felt an intense sense of foreboding pressing in on her from all sides.

"What are you doing?!" she hissed, eyes wide and afraid. "Why?"

"Go on, just drink it," Pippin whispered, patting her arm. "Just this once!"

"Drink, drink, drink," everybody else chanted. "Come on, Lass!"

Their voices continued to bounce around the tavern, and she could sense their impatience rising as they waited a few minutes too long for their liking.

When she finally caved under the pressure, Kate closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and swallowed the liquid as quickly as she could.

She figured she could throw it up later if she needed to... but then, a foul taste entered her mouth, and her throat burned as the alcohol slid into her stomach. Eyes huge with revulsion, the girl whirled away from the crowd and snagged the nearest glass of water, downing it in several gulps and washing the disgusting taste out of her mouth. There were cheers around and the music restarted, but a group of hobbits crowded around her, patting her on the back and offering her more mugs.

Feeling slightly dizzy and unsteady on her feet, Katie refused most of them, but accepted one that looked like water.

She discovered she was wrong when she drank it.

Not long after, the world grew hazy and everything started rippling as though she were underwater: sounds began echoing, as though coming from a long distance, and everything took on a strange greenish tint.

After she stumbled back to her seat, Pippin and Merry continued dancing on the table, but their singing didn't match the pace of their dance. When one of the hobbits commented on how good their voices were, Kate felt her irritation spike for no reason and smacked the counter with a grimace.

"Yeah, right," the albino slurred, shaking her head with a snort. "Those guys can't even_-hic__!-_sing a proper melody!"

"Is that so?" the chubby hobbit asked, grinning at her. "Well, I'll wager you can't do it better, can you?"

"Oh, yeah?" the albino girl snapped, giving him a smug grin. "You're wrong, mister_-hic__!-_smarty pants! I won a_-hic__!-_talent show back in middle school!"

"Sing, then!" another, older hobbit exclaimed. "I'd love to see that!"

"Fine!" Kate snootily retorted.

With that, the white-haired girl drunkenly stood up and sashayed through the swirling lights towards the table Merry and Pippin were dancing on: when Kate dizzily climbed up and the boys politely hopped off, whispers began to echo throughout the pub. When she turned, everyone slowly backed off a few steps since the girl kicked off her shoes and smoothed her knee-length school skirt.

Then, lifting her arms, she stepped forward and tapped her foot.

"You all wanna hear a REAL song?!" the girl demanded, grinning at everyone in a flush-faced manner; when everyone cheered and lifted their mugs in excitement, the girl laughed, somehow feeling lighter than she had in years. "All right, then! I'll sing one for ya! This is one of my personal favorites, from my homeland across the SEA! Hand me that fiddle!"

Everyone cheered uproariously when someone handed her the instrument.

However, Frodo was keeping a careful eye on her.

When the noise in the hall died down, the albino girl slowly lifted her hands and took a deep breath; with her arms spread like a bird about to take flight, her awareness of the world dissolved and all she could see was the song. Closing her eyes, Kate Ashley twisted her heel and gracefully twirled around, performing a small and very simple waltz meant for a singular dancer.

Spin... twist... spin... and with the fourth twist, she lifted her hand, set the fiddle on her collarbone, angled the bow, and gently drew it across the strings.

A deep, rich sound came from the instrument.

It wasn't a violin, but it was similar enough for her to feel mildly comfortable. She hadn't touched one in years, since Toni had burned the ones her parents had given to her and Nathan after Emily had passed away.

Then, opening her mouth, she began to sing.

It was nothing more than a loud hum at first: it had several people confused, as did the dance, since most songs in the tavern were quick-paced and jovial. However, every jaw in the room dropped in shock when she finally began singing for real.

"_I remember tears streaming down your face when I said, 'I'll never let you go_,'" Katie lightly trilled, slowly twirling on top of the table and playing the fiddle as the cheers fell silent. "_When all those shadows almost killed your light, I remember you said, 'Don't leave me here __alone.'__ But all that's dead and gone and passed tonight._"

Opening her eyes, the girl repeated the last word in a slow manner.

Then, she jumped into the melody and began singing in an upbeat manner.

"_Just close your eyes!_" she eagerly belted out, vocalizing in an unbelievably high soprano that filled the room with gentle, sweet tones. "_The sun is going down! You'll be alright! No one can hurt you now... come morning light, you and I'll be safe and sound_."

She was even more confident in her vocal abilities than during the talent show way back when.

Perhaps it was the booze?

"_Don't you dare look out your window! Darling, everything's on fire! The war outside our door keeps raging on,_" the girl trilled, melody hitting impossibly high. "_Hold onto this lullaby... even when the music's gone... gone._"

"Wow,_" _Merry suddenly whispered, nudging Pippin's arm with a mischievous waggle of his eyebrows. "She's got a voice! She could be a bard with that kind of talent!"

"_Just close your eyes!_ __The sun is going down!__" the albino girl trilled, slowly spinning around on the table. "_You'll be alright! No one can hurt you now! Come morning light, you and I'll be safe and sound_..."

The girl used that moment to attempt playing the filler on the fiddle, but truthfully, it was only by ear and memory. In short, it didn't sound very good. But soon, her voice was filling the air again in a light, fluty tone.

Her dance and fiddling then began to pick up tempo: it was time to finish up the last line of the song.

"_Just close your eyes... __y___ou'll be alright____...___"_ the girl trilled, singing much more quietly, "_Come morning light__... __you and I'll be safe... and... sound."_

When she stopped and dizzily stumbled, the girl blinked and hiccuped before giving a clumsy bow.

Dead silence... then, an uproar of cheers.

The women were clapping the hardest, though: several hobbit women were staring at her with sparkling eyes.

When Kate tried to get down, her foot slipped and she fell: eyes wide, the girl let out a squeak, but she was unexpectedly caught in a set of strong arms. Blinking rapidly and dizzily, the girl tilted her head back and found herself staring straight at Merry, who was grinning at her.

"Hallo!" he chuckled, helping her upright with a grunt. "You all right?"

"Uh... well, actually, I feel_-hic__!-_kinda gross," the girl groaned, touching her head as the room spun. "Everything is all_-hic__!-_fuzzy."

"You sound like you're drunk," Merry chuckled, poking her arm and chuckling when the albino girl teetered. "Yikes... two mugs of ale did this to you?!"

"I don't know anymore," the albino mumbled, hiccuping before she closed her eyes with a groan. "Ugh..."

"Well, your ballad was amazing," Pippin stated, folding his arms with amused hazel eyes. "Still, I'm surprised that you turned up with Frodo, Miss Katherine."

"Better than doing nothing!" the albino hiccuped, giving him a salute; then she took a seat in the nearest empty chair. "Then again, I feel kinda sick now..."

Before she could react, Frodo stormed over and clutched her shoulders, looking rather angry.

"Katherine!" he exclaimed, shaking her back and forth. "I thought I told you not to drink the ale! Why didn't you just turn the toast down?!"

"It's not like I wanted to!" the girl complained, head flopping back and forth and eyes spinning as her face turned green. "Oh, God, don't shake me... please... I'll puke."

"Something wrong, Frodo?" Merry chuckled, pulling an apple out of his pocket and taking a big bite. "What's wrong with just one drink?"

"She's not of age," the hobbit explained, folding his arms with a quirked eyebrow; both boys stiffened, unblinking, and merely stared at him. "That's right, you heard me!"

"What do you mean?" Merry asked, mouth no longer chewing; his brows were furrowed and he looked rather confused. "She looks of age to me."

"She's only ten and five years," Frodo explained, shaking his head when the eyes of both males practically bugged out of their heads. "I found out earlier this evening."

"Whoa," Merry whistled, wincing before he glanced at Pippin, who looked extremely disappointed for some reason. "Ouch."

"I wanna go lie down..." Kate croaked, dizzily standing up and trying to see; she narrowed her eyes when everything blurred to the point where she couldn't see very much, but then someone's hand was on her shoulder and she twitched. "Oh, God... my vision is fading... this isn't good... I'm having trouble seeing."

"Eh?" Frodo asked, looking startled. "What do you mean?"

"I mean," Kate stated in a low tone, "that I might be going temporarily _blind_ because of the alcohol I just put in my_-hic__!-_body."

"Let's get you home, then," Frodo muttered, wrapping an arm around her and leading her over to where Samwise Gamgee was sitting. "It's late enough as it is, and since the tavern will be closing soon, everyone is getting ready to leave anyway."

"Mr. Frodo?" a familiar voice drawled, making the girl lift her head. "Is... is she all right? Her face looks..."

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Kate grumbled, swallowing back her nausea. "I probably look green or red. Either way, I feel like crap."

"Well, Sam, I was just about to escort Katherine here back to Bag End," Frodo stated simply, smiling apologetically. "Would you mind coming with us?"

"B-but of course," Sam exclaimed, looking a little flustered for some reason; when the Hobbit helped Katie out the door, she blinked since her vision was still blurred, and even as she did so it went dark around the edges. Behind them, someone said something in a particularly nasally tone, and it had the sandy-haired youth beside her grumbling in irritation. "Boy, mind who you're sweet talkin'..."

"Don't worry, Sam," Frodo stated kindly, looking into his eyes with a smile. "Rosie knows an idiot when she sees one."

"Does she?" he asked, sounding conflicted.

"Most women_-hic__!-_do," Kate grumbled, good mood rapidly deteriorating. "We have sharp eyes."

Ironic, considering she was going blind.

The rest of the trek back was quiet: Sam and Frodo walked in silence, but when Katie's knees buckled and she fell flat on her face, the teal-eyed hobbit knelt down in front of her.

"Here, get on," Frodo murmured, glancing at her over his shoulder with deflated eyes. "It's your own fault for drinking, you know."

"Thank you," Kate croaked, struggling to crawl forward before clamping down onto his neck with shaking arms. "Just don't drop me... please... I can't even walk right anymore."

"I won't," Frodo promised, nodding and sliding his arms beneath the girl's knees; so saying, he hefted her like a backpack and stood up. However, he paused after he was upright, then danced from foot to foot before glancing over his shoulder with a frown. "Katherine... you're... actually rather light. Almost... unnaturally so. Pardon me for asking, but how often did you eat before Gandalf found you?"

"Depends," the girl mumbled, turning her face away from his and pressing her burning cheek against the dark curls on his neck. "I don't eat very much."

"Well, why not?" he kindly asked, plodding down the street. "You're a growing girl. You need to eat or you'll get sickly."

"He's right, you know," Sam added, giving her an uncomfortable expression. "It's not very good to not eat... plus, think of what you're missing."

"Okay, Grandpa," the girl sarcastically snorted, closing her eyes with a drained expression. "If you say so."

Secretly, the girl was marveling at how Frodo could smell good even after everything he'd done today: he smelled like an Irish spring... it was weird.

Did Hobbits even sweat like normal people?

Kate let out a whining huff of air as the curly-haired youth carried her towards Bag End.

She definitely wasn't anywhere near home.

"Well, we're back," Frodo finally murmured, then turned to look at Sam. "Don't fret about Rosie."

"I won't, Mr. Frodo," he stated, looking uneasy for some reason. "I'll talk to you tomorrow, okay?"

"All right," the hobbit chuckled, hefting Katie's weight before he moved up the steps to his home. "Just wait a few more minutes, Miss Katie..."

However, before he could so much as take a step forward, lucidity shot through the girl's mind and she squeezed.

"Don't take a single step towards that door," she stated seriously, tone dangerously low; he froze and glanced over his shoulder when the girl lifted herself up a little higher and peered around him, staring at the dark windows of the Hobbit Hole with squinted eyes. When she finally spotted the open kitchen window, a twinge of alarm went through her since it had been closed when they'd left. "Frodo... something isn't right. The kitchen window's open, and the oil lanterns in the chandelier were lit when we left, right?"

"Eh?" he asked, looking at the window and frowning at it once he noticed. "You're right... odd."

When he moved forward and used one arm to open the door, Kate tensed, since Bag End was pitch black. Her arms tightened when the Hobbit made his way inside and slowly looked around, frowning in confusion: the air was chilly, and everything seemed a little too quiet.

A small breeze was ruffling the papers on Bilbo's old desk, and the moonlight wafting in from the window was barely bright enough to see what was moving.

Kate patted Frodo's arms to make him let go of her legs: despite the shakiness in her limbs, the girl got back down and started walking on her own two feet. However, when she stepped forward and looked, she didn't see anything out of place.

So she turned with a shrug.

"I don't really see anything missing," she stated, giving Frodo a squint. "Then again, it's still hard for me to see, period. I think we should get some light in here."

"I agree, but I can't seem to find my flint," the hobbit stated slowly, peering around his Uncle's desk with a frown. "Still... something's not quite right."

Kate was just about to ask where he'd last seen it when a shadow loomed out of the darkness behind him: her eyes popped open wide and her throat tightened. Heart practically bursting out of her chest from the fright sweeping through her, the albino girl threw her hands up and screamed at the top of her lungs.

Frodo jumped and whirled, letting out a yelp of his own when a thin white hand flew out of the darkness and ensnared his shoulder. Seconds later, a thoroughly disheveled, dirty, and frenzy-eyed Gandalf thrust his face forward and leered at him with a trembling mouth.

"Are they secret?!" he hissed, making the hobbit jump. "Are they safe?!"

"Oh, my God!" Kate whimpered, knees buckling all over again; she let out a sigh and thumped down on her butt before clutching her chest, cloudy eyes huge. "That... that... agh! You're a fucking jerk. I thought I was gonna have a heart attack, you crazy old man!"

"Where is it?!" Gandalf urged, shaking Frodo gently. "The ring! Where is it!"

"It's... over here," he stammered, hastily hurrying over to a nearby side table; after lighting a match and igniting an oil lamp, the boy hurried over to a nearby chest and started digging around through some old scrolls; Kate rubbed her eyes and looked at Gandalf when the old man got a fire going in the fireplace. Finally, Frodo pulled a small envelope out of the chest. "Ah... here it is."

When he sighed and held it up, Gandalf snatched it and threw it into the fire. Frodo's eyes widened and he leapt to his feet.

"What are you doing?!" he exclaimed, watching as the envelope started to curl under the heat. "Gandalf!"

Kate, on the other hand, stiffened: that same hissing voice had filled the air once again, and as she sat there, half-drunk... well, let's just say it really scared her.

More than it would have if she were sober.

However, her fear was forgotten when a sharp pain seared through her right shoulder.

"Ow!" the girl gasped, jumping and clutching her arm in surprise; Gandalf instantly whirled to face her, but the girl jumped again since the pain seared a second time, even worse than before. Her eyes widened and she started clawing at her blazer. "Ow... ow! OW! Oh, my God! OWWW! My shoulder... holy shit, it's BURNING!"

The girl patted her arm and arched her back, then wriggled and rolled her shoulder, but the pain only intensified. She was just about to tear her clothes off and start screaming when Gandalf plucked the ring out of the fire with a pair of tongs.

"Hold out your hand, Frodo," he stated, holding the tongs above the hobbit's palm. "It's quite cool."

When the ring plopped into the young man's hand, he hurried over to Kate and undid the front of her blazer with rapid fingers: the girl's eyes widened and she froze when he jerked it off of her and undid seven buttons on her dress shirt. Then, before she could process what was happening, he hurried behind her and jerked the cloth down.

"Gandalf, it's... like ice," Frodo stated slowly. "How can that be?"

"What can you see?" Gandalf demanded, inspecting the circular markings on Katherine's shoulder with firm eyes. "Can you see anything?"

"Nothing," Frodo stated, looking at it with furrowed brows. "There's nothing..."

"G-Gandalf?" Kate squeaked, not wanting to move. "Why did you just... try to take my clothes off? I mean, yeah, my shoulder started hurting, but there was really no reason to go overboard, was th... ow... oh, god... ow... it's hurting again."

Muscles tensing up, the girl clenched her fists as the searing sensation moved through her shoulder again, this time with a barrage of oily whispers.

"Wait..." Frodo suddenly murmured, just as Gandalf's stormy eyes widened in horror. "Wait, there are markings... it's some form of elvish. I can't read it."

Gandalf slowly sat back, eyes locked onto Katherine's shoulder. The markings on the girl's abnormally pearly skin had begun to glow like burning coals: they were now shining dimly.

His eyes were grim when he looked away from her.

"There are few who can," he stated gravely, voice deep with age. "The language is that of Mordor, which I will not utter here."

When Frodo turned, looking at him in stunned disbelief, Katie took the opportunity to pull her shirt back on.

"Mordor?" the hobbit asked, glancing at him with furrowed brows. "How?"

"In the common tongue it says, '_One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all, and in the darkness bind them,'_" he quietly explained, then looked directly at Katherine with grim eyes and said, "'Come with me, both of you. There is much to discuss."

So saying, he swept off into the kitchen: after helping the albino to her feet, Frodo followed him and sat down in one of the chairs. Kate did so as well, albeit a bit more slowly since she had absolutely no idea what was going on. However, now that Gandalf was back, her primary concern was discovering her brother's whereabouts.

So, she brought it up once they were situated.

"So, what's the verdict?" the girl demanded, folding her hands and leaning forward with tired eyes. "Mind explaining what's going on?"

"This is the one ring, forged by the Dark Lord Sauron in the fires of Mount Doom," Gandalf stated gravely, puffing on his pipe with fierce eyes. "Taken by Isildur from the hand of Sauron himself."

Frodo's expression changed and he averted his eyes, looking horrified.

"Bilbo found it..." he whispered, blue-green eyes shimmering. "In Golem's cave."

"Yes," the wizard confirmed, looking at the Ring with wary eyes. "For sixty years, the Ring lay quiet in Bilbo's keeping... prolonging his life. Delaying old age. But no longer, Frodo: evil is stirring in Mordor. The Ring has awoken... it's heard it's master's call."

"But he was destroyed," Frodo stammered, eyes alight with fear. "Sauron was destroyed!"

Right around that moment, a hellish whisper filled the air and like the snap of a whip, Katherine twitched and her eyes snapped shut as a flash of a burning eye seared through her mind. She instantly started shivering, since the whispers didn't go away: however, for once, both Gandalf AND Frodo seemed to hear it as well, since they both immediately looked at the ring.

Kate folded her arms and glared at Gandalf, still shivering.

"See?" she snapped, making his eyes flick to her face. "That time I KNOW you heard it! I shit you not, every time somebody pulls out that ring, I hear that creepy voice whispering in my ear! CONSTANTLY. It's not normal, and I'd be very, VERY happy if you would put the damn thing away and tell me where the fuck my brother is."

"Do not act as if this does not concern you!" the wizard barked, making the girl lean back with startled eyes. "It concerns you more than any other, so hold your tongue! The same markings that have been forged into this ring have been etched into your body! Do not try me, for your very existence has been entwined with that of Sauron himself!"

Kate did a double take and looked at him, mouth hanging open.

"What are you saying?!" she spluttered, eyes huge. "That can't be possible! I told you, I'm not from around here, okay?!"

"And Sauron was destroyed," Frodo added, looking at the man with frightened eyes. "Wasn't he?"

Gandalf's eyes turned grave.

"No, Frodo," he whispered, looking at the boy with a serious expression. "The spirit of Sauron endured. His life force is bound to the ring, and the ring survived. Sauron has returned... his orcs have multiplied... his fortress of Barad-dûr rebuilt in the land of Mordor. Sauron needs only this ring, and that GIRL, to cover all these lands in a second darkness. He is seeking it... all thought is bent on it. The ring yearns above all else to return to the hand of its master. They are one... the ring, and the dark lord."

"And what does that have to do with me?" Kate angrily demanded, shivering as the eye from her nightmares came rushing back into her memory. "TELL ME!"

The wizard merely looked at her, then leaned forward with a somewhat fearful look on his face.

"In the current, unbound state he is in," Gandalf stated quietly, trying to break the news gently, "he cannot freely move about. Unless, that is... he has a living vessel. And I fear that he has chosen you, my dear, because you are not truly what you believe yourself to be."

Kate stared at him, not comprehending what he was saying.

"What the hell does that mean?" she demanded, looking at him as though he'd grown another head. "Explain it in stupid-people speak, please."

"It means, my dear," Gandalf gravely informed her, "that Sauron plans to use you as his vessel once he has the ring. He must never, ever find it."

"All right," Frodo stated, snatching the golden circlet off the table and stomping out of the kitchen. "We put it away. We keep it hidden, and we never speak of it again!"

"Do you really think that will work?" Kate snapped, getting up and unsteadily following him. "Seriously? Pretend it doesn't exist?!"

"Well, no one knows it's here, do they?" Frodo demanded; however, when the old man unfolded himself out into the room with a grim expression, Frodo tensed and slowly turned around, eyes a little worried. "Do they, Gandalf?_"_

"There is one other who knew that Bilbo had the ring," the wizard stated, making Katherine's heart freeze. "I looked everywhere for the creature, Golem, but the enemy found him first. I don't know how long they tortured him, but amidst the deranged screams and inane babble, they discerned two words: Shire... and Baggins."

Frodo's face went white and he straightened up, breath seeming to leave his lungs.

"Shire...?" he whispered, staring up at the old man with huge eyes. "Baggins?! But... but that will lead them here!"

"Lead who here?!" Kate demanded, looking back and forth in frustration; she felt like the only one who didn't know anything. "Hey! Talk! Who are you discussing?!"

"Take it, Gandalf!" Frodo cried, holding the ring out with a frantic expression. "TAKE IT!"

"No, Frodo," the wizard croaked, swallowing hard and backing away.

"You must take it!" the youth shouted, eyes wide and earnest.

"You cannot offer me this ring!" Gandalf gruffly barked.

"I'm GIVING it to you!" the Hobbit retorted.

"Don't... _tempt_ me, Frodo!" the old man snapped, making the smaller male lower his arm. "I dare not take it... not even to keep it safe. Understand me, Frodo... I would use this ring from a desire to do good... but through me, it would wield a power too great and terrible to imagine."

"But, Gandalf!" the hobbit cried, face taught with fear. "It cannot stay in the shire!"

"No!" the wizard exclaimed, stepping forward and shaking his head. "No, it can't."

"HEY!" Katie finally screamed, stomping her foot; when both men turned and looked at her, her face was red and her mouth was taught with anger. "Don't ignore me! What the hell are you two talking about?! Who is coming?! And why are you two bickering?!"

"You should already know the answer to that," the grey-haired man stated, making the girl twitch. "Were you not attacked by them along the road, hmm?"

Kate's breath caught and she clutched her cheeks, eyes huge.

"Wait... are you saying those screeching hooded things are coming?!" she squeaked, voice coming out high and weak. "For real?!"

"Yes, my dear," the wizard confirmed, making her shoulders quake. "I was not able to find your brother, Katherine... but, I do have a lead on his whereabouts."

"You do?!" the girl gasped, eyes lighting with hope. "So, he's safe?! He's safe, right?!"

"Yes, as far as I'm aware," Gandalf confirmed, making the girl's eyes soften in relief. "But you are now in grave danger, my dear... you are their target as well."

Kate froze.

"What must I do?" Frodo demanded, face taught with determination. "Tell me."

"Pack any belongings you may need," the man stated firmly, watching as the boy ran off into his room; Gandalf grabbed Katherine's arm and pulled her along down the hall towards the guest room. Snatching the sword that Gwendolyn had given her, he thrust it into her arms before pulling her back out. "You must leave, both of you. And you must leave quickly."

"Where?" Frodo asked, glancing up from the clothes he was packing. "Where do I go?"

"Get out of the shire," Gandalf explained, pulling a pouch out of his robes and thrusting it into Katherine's shaking hands. "Get to the village of Bree."

When she glanced at it, she noticed that it was large and extremely odd-looking.

"What's this?" the girl demanded, looking up at the wizard in confusion; hurrying over to the wardrobe, he jerked a black cloak out of it and thrust it at her. "Agh, hey!"

"Put that on. As for what's in the pouch, it's a dye made from earthy woodberries," the wizard stated firmly, making her eyes widen in shock. "The next time you bathe, lather the powder into your hair and along your eyelashes: it will turn your tresses dark and prevent you from standing out. However, it's only temporary and it washes away with water, so do be mindful of your surroundings. I cannot do anything for your eyes, or even for your pale skin, but at least you won't have to worry about being recognized as easily."

Before she could figure out what was going on, Frodo grabbed the bag he was stuffing full of clothes, clutched Katherine's arm, and pulled the girl along the hall.

"Hold on," he suddenly exclaimed, turning and glancing over his shoulder as he hurried along to the kitchen; letting go of Katie, the hobbit hastily started stuffing his pack full of apples, bread, cheese, and as much food as he could possible muster. "What about you?"

"I'll be waiting for you," Gandalf gruffly explained, following them, "at the inn of the Prancing Pony,"

"And the ring will be safe there?" the hobbit asked uncertainly, hands pausing. "You're certain?"

"I don't know, Frodo," the old man explained, shaking his head. "I don't have any answers. I must see the head of my order. He is both wise and powerful. Trust me Frodo, he'll know what to do."

"I don't understand," Kate whispered, jaw clenched with anger. "How is this possible? I'm just a high school girl from New York City! This isn't fair!"

"My dear girl, life rarely is," Gandalf snorted, then looked at Frodo, who was donning a thick brown coat; after it was on, he helped the boy with his cloak, which was a soft forest green and brought out the teal color in his eyes. "You'll have to leave the name of Baggins behind you, for that name is not safe outside the Shire. Travel only by day. And stay off the road."

"I can cut across country easily enough," Frodo explained, grabbing his walking stick and hefting his pack. "If we have trouble, we'll handle it."

"My dear Frodo," the old man finally sighed, face softening into a grandfatherly smile. "Hobbits really are amazing creatures! You can learn all that there is to know about their ways in a month, and yet after a hundred years, they can still surprise you. Take care of Katherine, my boy... keep her, and the ring, safe."

"Of course," the hobbit stated, then glanced at the girl and blinked, since she hadn't even donned her cloak; setting his staff aside, he took the cloth and held it out. "Turn around and keep your arms tucked in while I put this on for you."

"Okay, _Grandpa_," the girl grumbled, dizzily turning around and allowing him to fasten the black cloth at her throat; once it was on, the girl closed the cloak around herself and pulled the hood up. She instantly blinked, since her body temperature went up by at least five degrees almost instantly. "Wow... this is surprisingly good at keeping me warm."

"Of course it is! It's a cloak," Gandalf chuckled, then looked at her with gentle eyes. "I'll find your brother, my dear... if I'm not mistaken, he will be easy to locate."

"Wait," Kate stated, then swallowed and pulled the hood off again; slowly lifting her hands, the girl took the black ribbon out of her hair and winced when her silken locks slid free of their confines and masked the sides of her face; holding it out, she waited until the man took it. "When you find my brother, show him that ribbon and tell him that Katherine said, quote on quote, 'if you do anything to that ribbon before Gandalf gets you back to me, I swear to God I will SKIN you, Nathaniel Sanders.'"

"Really?" he asked, looking at the scrap of stain with curious eyes. "And you're sure this threat, of all things, will convince him?"

"Yes," the girl grumpily retorted, lowering her eyes. "He'll recognize the ribbon in a flash, and the message will prove that you know me if you word it how I told you to. Just... make sure he's all right, okay?"

"I will," Gandalf chuckled, shaking his head, "and hopefully, by the time we meet again in Bree I'll be able to reunite the two of you."

Right around that moment, a rustle outside the open window made everyone freeze.

"What's that?" Katie hissed, pulling her hood up and clutching it with huge eyes. "Is someone out there?!"

"Get down!" Gandalf hushed, waiting until the hobbit and the girl hit the deck to move towards the window. "Stay right there..."

Lifting his staff, he peered outside, and when the bush just below the window moved, he lashed out like a snake.

"OOF!" a voice croaked. "Ow..."

Eyes widening, the wizard lunged outside and grabbed someone by the hair before hauling him in and slamming him against the table.

"Confound it all Samwise Gamgee!" the old man barked, eyes flashing when the offender raised his arms. "Have you been eavesdropping?!"

"I-I haven't dropped no eaves sir, honest!" the sandy-haired man stammered, eyes large. "I-I was just cutting the grass under the window there, if you follow me."

"Hmm?!" the old man barked, folding his arms. "A little _late_ for trimming the verge, don't you think?"

"But, sir," Sam stuttered, "I heard raised voices, and -"

"What did you hear?" Gandalf rapped out. "Speak!"

"N-n-n-nothing important!" the youth all but squeaked. "That is, I heard a good deal about a Ring and a Dark Lord and Miss Katherine being a vessel and something about the end of the world but... Please, Mister Gandalf sir, don't hurt me. Don't turn me into anythin'... u-unnatural."

"Noooo?" Gandalf drawled, leaning down before glancing at Kate and Frodo; with a barely-noticeable smirk, he leaned even close to the hobbit's face. "Well, perhaps not. I think I've got a better use for you..."

"Oh, Joy," Kate sighed, swallowing hard as the urge to puke washed over her. "Gandalf is a sadist, and I'm going nuts. This is just perfect."

However, she didn't say anything more, simply because everyone had already turned to leave.

Slowly stepping outside, Kate couldn't help but feel that she were losing her home for the second time. Although why she felt that way, she still didn't know.

Slowly turning over her shoulder, the girl thought about the potato plant Frodo had given her before swallowing and following them. She couldn't do anything for it now, but maybe... maybe, after she got out of whatever mess this was, and after she knew whether or not returning to her own world was an option... maybe she could take care of it again.

Deep down, she was hoping she could. 


	18. Chapter 17: It Begins

**Chapter Seventeen: It Begins**

It was a forest from a Grimm's fairy tale: a forest full of black trees and blacker shadows.

Katie listened with nervous eyes as wolves howled in the distance. Nearer, sometimes so close that she could have reached out and touched them, the girl saw glittering eyes blinking at them from time to time... watching them, considering them, lusting after the marrow in their bones.

Although, maybe her imagination was running wild... Lord only knew she was a little unsteady in the mind after drinking alcohol.

Especially since a nightmarish curse that had sounded like something from a Disney princess Fairy Tale had bit her in the ass earlier.

She, Frodo, and a very nervous-looking Samwise Gamgee were following Gandalf through this forest, but it hadn't hit her until a little while ago that her companions had literally just dropped everything in their lives and gone on the run because of a tiny little piece of jewelry. It was absurd, but then again, so was everything around her: nothing made sense anymore. So, she decided to temporarily give up her common sense, since it was apparently no longer necessary.

Gandalf seemed unafraid, but he kept a firm grip on his staff, and once he even raised it, holding out his hand to halt them.

Because of that, Kate finally spoke up.

"Gandalf," the girl grumbled, lifting her eyes and peering at him from within the hood, "none of this makes sense."

"I agree, my dear," the wizard answered; he was currently leading his horse through the underbrush. "However, that is precisely why we must try to make sense of it."

"Oh, really? Well, nothing like a hike on no sleep, especially with alcohol in the brain," Kate grumbled, dusting herself off with a sigh. "Ugh, I feel like I'm crawling with bugs and dirt already!"

"Where exactly are we going, Mr. Gandalf, sir?" Sam asked, voice sounding raspy. "This road leads out of the Shire."

Kate stared at him.

_"What_ road?" the girl scoffed, looking at the underbrush beneath them before ogling him a second time. "There's no road here!"

"This path is rarely used, so the foliage has covered it," Gandalf explained, finally turning to look at them. "Samwise... you, Katherine, and Frodo ARE indeed leaving the shire. Be careful, all of you. The enemy has many spies in his service: birds, beasts, and even plants."

"I still don't get what's going on, but I figure I might as well get used to that," Kate grumbled, running a hand through her hair. "I never seem to these days."

"All in good time, Katherine," Gandalf soothed, then turned to look at Frodo. "Is it safe?"

In answer, the hobbit patted his coat pocket and looked up at him with large eyes.

"Never put it on, for the agents of the Dark Lord will be drawn to its power," Gandalf gravely informed him, then glanced at Kate and added, "and it will reveal Katherine's location as well, I'm afraid. Always remember, Frodo, the Ring is trying to get back to its master. It wants to be found. Now, I must go... there's a missing boy to be found, and many a mystery to solve."

So saying, he climbed up on his horse and gently dug his heels into its sides: with a snort, the beast took off, and Gandalf started riding away.

"So... I'm following you, I guess," the albino muttered, looking at the two boys with a grumpy expression. "Please, by all means, lead the way."

Sam and Frodo stared at each other and shrugged before making their way through the woods.

The sky had already started getting lighter, almost to the point of an early dawn, which made Kate wonder just how much time had passed since Gandalf had shown up. Still, the brighter it got, the less spooky the forest around her became... in fact, she realized only afterwards that it was actually a beautiful place. Kate hefted the small bag that Frodo had given her and grimaced when her sleeve chafed against the burn on her arm.

However, they walked in silence.

When the sun slowly rose and the scenery changed from dark green forests to rolling hills with houses built among them, Kate pulled the hood up and drew herself as deep inside it as she could. By the time lunch rolled around, the sun was making her miserable: her entire body felt as though it had been covered in mosquitoes that were EVERYWHERE all at once. It was horrid: her whole body was stinging.

Eventually, in an attempt to keep the sun off of her, the girl took off her shoes and pulled her knee-high stockings off; then she wrapped the cloth around her neck and forehead, not even caring that she'd just been walking in them. Her body was hurting too much to care.

Regardless, the white-haired girl halted and crossed her suddenly-wide eyes to look at a rainbow-winged butterfly that fluttered around and unexpectedly landed on her nose. She blinked several times before she slowly pulled her hood off.

When the beautiful creature fluttered away, Katie lifted her hand to try and touch it.

Sadly, it was out of her reach... just like the stars from the previous evening.

In that moment, the clouds parted for a moment and she was bathed in sunlight.

Frodo and Sam stopped walking when they realized that she had fallen behind, and when they turned around, a gentle wind swept through the grass: the girl was standing stock still, holding her arm out to something they couldn't see. Her hair and skin looked so bright that she almost seemed to be glowing.

When the albino finally lowered her arm, her eyes had saddened immensely.

Kate slowly clasped her hands between her breasts and turned to look at them, long hair drifting behind her in the breeze. For a long moment, something about her face seemed very, very fragile... but then, a few clouds drifted over the sun again and the fleeting fragility faded away.

Lowering her gaze, the girl pulled her hood back up and walked towards them until she was standing beside Frodo.

"Katherine?" Frodo murmured, looking at her out of the corner of his eye once they started walking again. "Are you okay?"

_**"**_No,_**"**_ Kate unexpectedly retorted, staring at the ground. **"**I am most certainly not okay."

Frodo winced when the air almost vibrated with the heaviness of the statement; then he looked at Sam to see a set of confused eyes staring at him.

For a long moment, the two of them merely stared at each other.

"Katherine," the hobbit sighed, making the white-haired one flinch, "we're not okay, either, but if we stick together... we'll be fine."

"I don't believe it," Kate retorted, sweeping ahead of them. "You didn't see what I saw, and you don't even know what's after us. I DO, at least to some degree, and let me tell you: we are going to be ANYTHING but fine if they catch us."

Even as she said it, the girl squeezed the front of her school skirt beneath the cloak and tightened her jaw.

"Even so, we're all in this together," Frodo softly soothed, looking at the irritated albino before glancing at Sam. "The three of us can't work this out alone, so we'll have to work together in order to make sense of what's going on. No matter how difficult it is, I think we'd better tough it out until we make it to Bree. Once we get there, maybe some of this will start making sense."

"I doubt it will, but fine," Kate grumbled, shaking her head. "I'd give anything just to go to sleep. I turn into a bitch when I'm tired."

When she hurried off again with a little less pep in her step, Frodo and Sam watched her with confused eyes. In truth, her actions, mannerisms, and even her speech caught both of them off guard from time to time: in fact, there were moments when she seemed like she was from a completely different place... moments when her expressions became... almost _otherworldly_, in a way. It was an inexplicable feeling: Frodo had noticed over the last week that there were moments, like just a few seconds ago, where something in Katherine's eyes would shift without warning and fill up with an unidentifiable sadness.

As well as copious amounts of fear.

He didn't know why, of course, and in the end he felt like he probably never would: Kate simply worried about things that others never even considered.

Throughout the day, they were careful to stay out of sight until they reached a large road; then they quickened their pace, eager to get out of the Shire and distance themselves from it.

Katie plowed ahead even though her legs were burning from the exertion; the mindless rhythm of walking had somehow freed her mind to think, though, so that's exactly what she did. The first thing she needed to do was accept the fact that she was no longer on Earth.

If she could somehow accept that, adapting to wherever this was until she could find a way home would be a lot easier.

Eventually, after an endless time of mindless plodding, they got out of the hilly area by late afternoon and started making their way through another forest.

They traveled for several long hours around the crags and recesses this new forest had to offer, and at one point, they even scaled a small cliff to get around a waterfall: Kate was determined to see what lay outside of the Shire, but her goal was still too far away. For a while, they traveled through a sloping pass, winding over a hill and gully, following the river.

Then, finally, with the sun behind their backs... they mounted a rise... and Katherine gasped, pink eyes slowly widening with shock.

"No... way..." she whispered, staring ahead of her with a slack jaw. "Oh, my God! There is no fucking way this is real."

Seconds later, she saw more and her heart skipped a beat.

Long, wispy clouds swept overhead, shaped by fierce winds... and the view of the mountains ahead of her immediately took her breath away: she had never seen mountains in person before, but these were even more majestic than the ones in all the movies she had seen over the years. They were so tall that the clouds started obscuring them only halfway up, and their snow-capped peaks were so radiant and majestic that she almost forgot about her fear.

Almost.

She gazed at the tall pine trees and the gorgeous mountains as the wind played with her hair, feeling stunned by the green hills before them.

However, it was around that time when reality once again began to descend on her and a rational amount of fear swept through her heart.

The fact that she was looking at mountains in general meant that she was obviously nowhere near New York City. Plus, these mountains looked tall enough to be a part of the Himalayas.

That was what settled it: she was no longer on the Earth she knew.

The ocean she could handle... the magic, wizard, and weird fireworks, too... hell, even the midget people living under the ground was acceptable. But if there was one thing she knew to be plain old fact, it was that this wasn't the Himalayas, and the tallest mountains on Earth were located in an area with an extremely cold climate.

Panic loomed out of the darkness of her heart, and it threatened to overwhelm her... but somehow, she choked it back.

_Once we get to Bree or whatever, I won't go any farther until I get some answers from Gandalf,_ she told herself firmly, shivering all over. _Still,_ _this is all just unbelievable._

When the girl continued following Frodo and Sam, she couldn't take her eyes off the mountains: one thing was for sure... this place had a lot more natural beauty than the world she had come from.

Katherine followed Frodo and Sam along the countryside, making their way across streams, over hills, and through meadows

The sun was finally sinking below the horizon when they finally made it to a cornfield.

And it was here that Sam stopped.

"This is it," he muttered, making Frodo and Katherine turn to stare at him.

"This is what?" Frodo asked, tilting his head.

"If take one more step," the hobbit stated uneasily, looking at the ground before his brown eyes locked with his friend's blue ones, "it'll be the farthest away from home I've ever been."

Kate quirked an eyebrow and shifted her weight, folding her arms.

"Really?" she stated dryly. "Must be nice. This is a lot closer than I am to MY home."

When he glanced at her, she held his gaze, feeling genuinely irritated. He didn't know how lucky he was... at least he knew he _could_ go home once everything was said and done.

She didn't even have _that_ solace.

However, after giving him a gentle expression, Frodo Baggins stepped forward and set a gentle hand on his arm.

"Come on Sam," he stated in a kind tone, smiling at his friend with glinting teal eyes. "Remember what Bilbo used to say? '_It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to.'_"

For a long moment, the two of them merely stared at each other: one uncertain, the other, coaxing.

Finally, Sam took one more step forward... and kept going.

Katherine kept her eyes lowered when they walked past her: as much as she didn't want to admit it, Frodo reminded her a lot of Miss McKinley now and then. They were definitely similar enough with their odd streak of kindness, at the very least... that much she was sure of.

Regardless, by the time Katie wondered where they were going to sleep, it was starting to get dark and she was exhausted. Not only that, she was in a fairly bad temper since her head was splitting and she was also exhausted.

"Hey," she groused after they made it into another patch of woods, making the two hobbits glance at her, "don't ever let me drink alcohol again, please... my head feels like it's about to split open. It was the stupidest decision I've ever made."

"I won't let you, Katherine, you can count on it," Frodo laughed, eyes glimmering with amusement. "It's your own fault, though. You should have just turned down the toast."

"As if I could with all those people egging me on," she grumbled, wondering if he even knew what peer pressure was. "So... what now? We've been walking all day, and I'm tired."

"We find a place to camp," Frodo explained, looking around with observant eyes. "Considering the type of trees these are, there should be plenty of good spots around here."

"Do you have somewhere in mind?" Sam asked, looking confused. "All I see are trees, rocks, and bushes."

"Yes, I do," Frodo murmured, then headed into the forest. "Follow me until I can find a suitable area."

Twilight was just beginning to fall when they finally stopped in a well-concealed bramble.

The irregular clearing in the center was just large enough for a fire and three people: squirrels instantly scampered into the trees, chattering in protest at their intrusion. After stepping forward, Katie extricated herself from a thorny vine and looked around with exhausted violet eyes.

"Nice," she muttered, slowly sitting down and let out a groan when her legs creaked. "Ow..."

"Are you all right?" Frodo inquired.

"It's nothing," the girl muttered. "I'm used to walking, but not this much. It put a lot of stress on my legs."

"Oh... we'll rest up for a while to make up for it," Frodo sighed, shrugging his pack off and pulling out several objects; after a moment, he handed a small hatchet to Sam and asked, "could you get some small branches so I can start a fire?"

"Yes, Mr. Frodo," the blonde confirmed, nodding before he grasped the tool and headed off. "I'll return in just a moment."

Kate watched him go with heavy eyes.

Then she turned to look at Frodo, who was pulling out two types of meat as well as some tomatoes.

"So," Kate mumbled, already swaying back and forth. "What'cha doing?"

"Setting up camp," he replied, pulling some cookware out of his hiking pack. "You just sit there... you look dead on your feet."

"I am," the girl snorted, sighing a little; when she pulled her hood down, it was revealed that her face was more than a little flushed. "Pray that tomorrow is cloudy, though, please... I know I am. I was exposed to WAY too much sunlight today... I might end up getting a fever from being overexposed to the UV rays."

Frodo paused, blinking in confusion; then he looked at her.

"U... V... rays?" he asked, staring at her with a frown. "What are... those?"

"Eh?" Kate asked, eyes widening before she remembered where she was. "Oh, uh... well, UV stands for Ultraviolet Radiation."

When he stared blankly, looking even more confused, the girl wondered just how scientifically underdeveloped Middle Earth was.

"I... don't think I understand," Frodo stated, slowly shaking his head. "Ultraviolet... radiation?"

"Okay, look," Kate sighed, grimly realizing she might have to explain it from a very basic beginning. "You might not know this, Frodo, but the sun emits a form of energy called ultraviolet radiation. We don't just get light from it... the sun is made up of a lot of things, and because of that, it emits a lot of things, too."

His eyes widened immediately.

"You know what the sun is made of?" he whispered, staring at her in shock; slowly continuing what he was doing, the hobbit tried to focus, but he didn't take his eyes off her. "Tell me! What is the sun made of?!"

"Well, in a nutshell, it's a big ball of fire, fueled by gases," Kate explained, tapping her chin as she thought about it. "The sun is actually a star, just like the ones we see far away at night: they're all the same. However, just because it seems big and close doesn't mean it is. Quite the contrary, the sun is so far away that you could probably stack this entire world a million times over and you wouldn't even be a third of the way there."

His eyes sparkled with shock at the news.

"Really?!" he exclaimed, hastily setting everything up. "How do you know all this?!"

"Well, I was taught it," the girl explained, looking at the ground with a frown. "Where I come from, we know a lot more than you do. We have... things called science and technology, you see? People who got curious about how the world worked and why things worked the way they did decided to figure things out. What they learned is taught to everyone."

"That's incredible!" Frodo exclaimed, looking up at the sky; the first stars were just twinkling into existence. "So, how far away are all those stars?"

"There's no way of knowing that, but I can tell you right now," Kate snorted, smiling a little, "they're so far away, that even the people in my homeland could only guess. The darkness you see between the stars in the sky is called _space_, Frodo... it's an emptiness that stretches on so far that you could only think of it as eternity."

The hobbit's eyes were wide with wonder by the time she finished speaking. When Samwise came back into the clearing and started building the fire, Frodo used a flint to light it and the blonde started cooking on a frying pan. The food sizzled quietly, spreading a rich aroma through the clearing.

However, once their camp had been set up, Frodo looked at her with bright eyes and smiled.

"Would you tell me more?" he asked, looking at her like a child asking his mother for a story. "Please?"

"Uh... sure... if you want me to," Kate stated, feeling kind of disgruntled. "There's a lot I could tell you, but... honestly, I don't exactly think you'd find it interesting."

"Oh, but I do!" Frodo exclaimed, eyes large. "I've never heard anything equal to it! It's... incredible, Katherine. To think, you know what the SUN is MADE of!"

"The sun?" Sam asked, looking back and forth between them before he glanced up at the darkening sky. "She knows what the sun is made of?"

"Yes! She says it's actually just a big ball of fire that runs on oil like a lantern!" Frodo exclaimed, grinning at him. "Incredible, right?"

Kate's mouth twitched, and before she could stop it from happening, her lips shakily tilted upward.

Then, a strangely light feeling bubbled up her throat. Her face twitched a few times, amethyst eyes suddenly shining from the inside out.

Before she could stop herself, she let out a gale of laughter.

"Okay, okay, wrong," the girl weakly chuckled, shaking her head with a rare smirk. "It's not _oil,_ Frodo, it's _gas!_ As in, not a solid: a good example of a non-solid gas would be... well, air. You know, what we breathe? Air is made up of a substance called oxygen, which is a gas... and since there are many types of gases, it makes sense to say that the sun is made up of some really _hot_ gases. Because of that, it burns. That's why we can see it, and at a stretch, even why any of us are alive right now: the sun keeps the world warm and gives us light. Life is pretty much just a chain of facts like that, really."

"Incredible!" Frodo gasped, eyes lighting up; then he glanced up at the sky and his eyes twinkled. "I have another question that I've wondered for my whole life... do you know why the sky is blue?"

"Eh? Well, yes, actually," Kate stated, blinking a few times in surprise. "There are lots of small water droplets in the sky, so small you can't even see them: the color we see is only there because sunlight is being reflected off of the distant ocean like a mirror. Since the sea is also blue, that reflection bounces off those small water droplets, and because if it, the sky looks the way it does. In a way, the sky is actually kind of like my eyes: light and reflections gives my irises the colors you see, but by themselves, they HAVE no color."

"Wow," Sam murmured, tilting his head before he tossed the meat Frodo had pulled out onto the frying pan. "Miss Katherine, that sounds rather... _interesting_."

Her eyes grew half-lidded when she detected the sarcasm in his tone.

"If you don't believe me, that's your problem," she stated, shrugging with a deadpan expression on her face; however, Katie paused when Frodo stood up and walked over to a tree. Lifting his arms, he climbed up it with ease and settled down on a wide branch before planting his arms behind his head; then he glanced at her. "Uh... what are you doing up there?"

"Aren't you coming?" he asked, looking surprised. "Stories are best told when people are comfortable, right?"

"W-well, yeah, but how can you be comfortable in a tree?" the girl scoffed, walking over and looking up at him. "I don't get it."

"Climb up and find out!" he chided, grinning at her before pulling out an old-fashioned corncob pipe and stuffing a plant in it. "It really is rather nice up here."

Letting out a huff, the girl scowled and took her cloak off; then, after unbuttoning her blazer, the girl shrugged it off before loosening the red tie around her neck. Clothed in nothing but her pleated skirt and short-sleeve dress shirt, Katherine lifted her foot and carefully started climbing. She somehow managed to make it to a wide-looking branch, but she was actually kind of surprised to discover that Frodo had been right. It really was comfy.

The bark beneath her almost seemed to have grown just to fit the shape of her body.

After finally settling down, the girl was just about to open her mouth and start talking again when an odd sound met her ears.

A voice...?

One Voice?

No it was many... and all of them were singing.

Kate swallowed and tilted her head, squinting as the ethereal voices reached her.

Out of nowhere, that's when it happened. Something inside her stirred... some small unconscious part of her. Slowly, but surely, Katherine began to recognize the voices... and when she heard their song, a pulsing sensation rippled through her soul, making her eyes go blank and her shoulders tense. She recognized the sensation: the strange spirit inside her... it had woken up again. The girl slowly turned her head and looked at Frodo.

"Hey..." she whispered, eyes large and detached; when he glanced at her, his brows furrowed since she looked terrified. "That music... do you hear it?"

The hobbit glanced at her before tilted his head, listening; after a moment, his eyes widened and a grin spread across his face.

The singing could now be clearly heard echoing throughout the forest: the voices were sweet and high, and somehow, they made Kate feel an odd yearning.

"Kath! Sam!" Frodo whispered, instantly crawling down out of the tree. "Wood elves!"

"Wood elves?!" Sam gasped, eyes widening in surprise. "Here?"

"What are... wood elves?" Kate asked, frantically scurrying out of the tree; however, she flailed her arms when they ran out of the clearing and up a nearby hill without her, eyes widening in anger. "Hey! Wait for me!"

When she finally caught up, the hobbits were crouching behind a log: Katherine halted when a sweet, warm breeze swept through the clearing, then looked up at the sky through the trees. It was dark, but for some reason, it felt like a summer evening rather than an autumnal one. And that bothered her, since even the seasons weren't matching up.

Shaking her head, the girl tiptoed forward and crouched beside the two men. The wind swept their hair around as they sat there.

Kate's heart skipped a beat when she beheld the scene in front of her: several people were passing slowly through the forest, some on horseback, some walking, others with banners. But the biggest noticeable thing was that the whole group seemed to shine with their own inner light... their white garments were softly glowing against the purples and midnight blues of the woods.

It was haunting... but there was something so familiar about those beings that it frightened her.

"They're going to the harbor beyond the White Towers," Frodo murmured, watching them. "To the Gray Havens."

"Where?" Kate asked, looking at him in confusion. "Where are they going?"

"They're leaving middle earth," Sam explained, staring at the glowing figures with solemn eyes.

"Never to return," Frodo sighed.

For a long moment, the three of them merely stared.

"I don't know why," Sam murmured, eyes somewhat glazed. "It makes me sad."

Katherine agreed: there was a feeling pulsing through her, a familiar feeling of wistfulness and sorrow... an unidentifiable yearning.

The unknown desire to stretch out her hands to those beings of light and just _sing_... to resonate with their song... to channel her soul through her very being and let the world hear it. Frodo blinked when Kate abruptly stood up and woodenly turned away, watching with furrowed brows as the girl slowly and almost robotically headed back towards the camp. Not long after she sat down, Sam and Frodo hurried back and the blonde attended the food he'd left cooking. When the meat was cooked through and supper was ready, Frodo plopped it down on some napkins and served it.

Kate ate it silently, avoiding their eyes... but when she was done, she felt ecen more exhausted.

Both men pulled out their pipes and leisurely lit them when she took her cloak off and spread it on the ground. Then, after undoing her tie and pulling her arms into the sleeves of her shirt, the girl jammed her fingers into her armpits and rolled herself up like a mummy in the cloak for warmth. Once she'd successfully turned herself into a burrito, the albino gently flopped on her side and sleepily looked at her companions, who were settling down as well.

"Do you guys know what tents are?" she mumbled, struck by an odd curiosity. "Just curious."

Frodo, who had just spread his own cloak out directly beside her, blinked in perplexity.

"Tents?" Sam asked, sounding skeptical. "Of course we know what tents are."

"Well, that's a relief," Kate mumbled, sleepily nodding off. "I was kinda worried... at first, I thought I might be stuck in a place where nothing is modern... but even though lots of things aren't, some things are, I guess. I once read a book that some Archaeologist wrote... it explained how people got by without modern technology, but truth be told, I don't think you're really all that far behind. It's not like the stone age... or even Pre-biblical... it's just... somewhat medieval."

"An Archaeolojiwhat?" Frodo asked, blinking three times in a row. "What's that? And how did it write a book?"

"Archaeologists are people who dig up ancient civilizations, looking for clues on how people lived in the past," Kate tiredly explained, eyes closed and face almost completely relaxed as sleep started soothing her mind. "They dig up old temples, vases, and so on... ancient ruins, things that everyone else has forgotten. That sort of thing."

"Why?" Sam asked, wrinkling his nose in confusion from where he was lying down. "If they're that old and they've been forgotten, it must have happened for a reason. Why would they bother digging them up after so much time has already passed? Seems like a whole lotta trouble."

"Well, out of curiosity, I guess," Kate mumbled, shifting her body a bit. "To find out how people lived in the past. It's not like _I_ need to... I'm already here, in a weird way."

"Oh..." Frodo muttered, then curiously asked, "well, what do they do? Do they repair the buildings and the vases and so on?"

"No," the albino sighed, snuggling into the cloak. "Sometimes they stick the shards of pots back together or recreate ancient wall writing to find hidden messages, but mostly they leave things the way they find them. I think its because they don't have the necessary skills to recreate everything exactly the way it was back then-but still, that's just my own personal guess. I figure people want to know what their origins are, so they look to the past to see where they came from. They want a little bit of closure."

Baffled by her response, the hobbits shared a look before settling down. By the time Frodo got comfortable, Katherine was already asleep: her face was relaxed and her large eyes were hidden behind her long, white eyelashes.

The hobbit stared at her for a long time, teal eyes pensive: over the last week and a half, he had started feeling oddly protective of Katherine for some reason... even more so after discovering just how young she really was. The girl sleeping not even a foot away from him was a child... a child that he could somehow sense was afraid of everything.

He didn't know why. Nor did he expect to. But something deep within him wanted to get rid of the odd _emptiness_ he sometimes saw resting behind her eyes.

A paternal instinct, perhaps.

After all, hobbits were simple folk: they lived comfortable lives, and they enjoyed good food, but above all... to hobbits, children were considered the dearest of all things.

Kate was alone in a strange place, her brother was missing, and she had no family aside from the mysterious sibling she'd been fretting over.

This was a feeling he understood.

After a moment, the young man closed his eyes, planning on trying to fall asleep even though he knew he wouldn't be able to.

A grumbling voice split the silence not even ten seconds afterwards.

"Everywhere I lie there's a dirty great root sticking into my back," Sam groused, wriggling around a little bit and trying to get comfortable. "This is not comfortable."

"Just shut your eyes," Frodo kindly stated, smiling a little, "and imagine you're back in your own bed, with a soft mattress and a lovely feather pillow."

Sam gave him a skeptical look, then settled back down and closed his eyes.

However, after a moment he let out a sigh of frustration.

"It's not working Mister Frodo," he muttered, shaking his head. "I'm never going to be able to sleep out here."

Frodo's mouth tilted upwards into a soft smile, but he merely kept his eyes closed.

"Me neither, Sam..." he stated softly. "Me neither."

The sandy-haired youth sighed and grabbed a small piece of bread out of his bag to nibble on.

Frodo merely smiled to himself.


	19. Chapter 18: Pawn

**Chapter Seventeen: Betrayal**

The waning moon hung brightly among a thousand stars and a heavy wind blew towards him as Gandalf the Grey rode through the darkness on the back of his horse.

He had been riding all day and had gone clean through the night, only stopping to water his steed. Even now, so close to daybreak, the grey-robed old man flew faster than the wind across the land: impatience drove him on. Impatience coupled with the looming anxiety for Frodo and Katherine''s well-being. He knew exactly where he was going, however, so that was one worry off his mind... and if he was correct, the signs he had discovered in his search for the missing boy had pointed to the location he was currently traveling towards.

It was a blessing that the child had been found safely, particularly by the one Gandalf was going to see.

Saruman was a man of great power and kindness, and he had no doubt that his superior was probably waiting for him even as he thought it.

After all, two children randomly appearing on the back of a Great Eagle was NOT a common occurrence in the least... even less so were Katherine's claims that they'd come from a different plane of existence. Sweat trickled from Gandalf's brow and he reigned his horse in, glancing at the sky: dawn was slowly breaking over the horizon, and slowly but surely, the sky was lighting up. Letting out a sigh of impatience, he spurred his horse onward, grateful only for the fact that he'd most likely arrive at his destination sooner than he'd thought.

He traveled for several hours through the woods and across a nearby mountain range: when he finally rode out through a copse of trees, Gandalf reigned his horse in again and peered ahead from beneath his pointed hat; on either side of him were forests and hills, but below him stretched a huge plain that extended to the horizon and fused into the mountains on the other side. In the center of the valley, amidst a small forest of tress, was an enormous black tower.

He had arrived.

Gandalf instantly let out a sigh of relief and spurred his horse on, riding towards the tower at top speed. His eyes lifted when he spotted the familiar bridge that signaled his arrival to Isengard. Ducking low, he rode on, gently spurring his horse to go a little faster. The poor beast had done an amazing job, and the old man could tell that he was tired: he made a mental note to make sure that the stallion was well-cared for once he managed to talk to Saruman. Riding down the long, clean-cut path, the Grey one flew towards the steps and pulled his steed to a halt one final time.

He wasn't surprised to see Saruman himself already descending the steps.

"Smoke rises from the mountain of Doom, and beings not of this world have alighted on our doorsteps," the white-clad man stated just as the grey-robed wizard hastily dismounted; his dark eyes were clearer than marbles made of of onyx. "The hour grows late, and yet Gandalf the Grey rides to Isengard seeking my counsel. For that is why you have come, is it not… my old friend?"

"Saruman," Gandalf stated respectfully, uttering his name in a reverent manner before slightly lowering his head. "Forgive me for arriving unannounced, but I have much I wish to discuss with you."

"As do I, Gandalf." the white-clad man stated, tilting his head back before lifting a graceful arm. "Walk with me."

When Saruman turned and slowly started moving down a nearby path, Gandalf followed him and kept pace at his side without question.

"Saruman," Gandalf stated firmly, staring ahead in a firm manner. "I'm sure you know that the signs can no longer be ignored."

"It would seem that it the case," the dark-eyed man conceded, staring straight ahead with no expression. "However, it would also seem that there are two very, very odd children running around... children who bring with them odd stories of coming from another world on the back of a Great Eagle."

Gandalf's face relaxed, knowing he'd been right and the boy had indeed been found safely.

"Very strange children, indeed," Gandalf chuckled, thinking about Kate's odd mannerisms. "I presume this means you've found the boy, Nathan?"

"And you, the girl... Katherine," Sarumon confirmed, lifting his hand and feeling the wind flowing through it. "Tell me, Gandalf... how much faith can I put in that boy's stories?"

"From what I've seen and heard, I don't believe they're lying," the blue-eyed man replied "At the very least, Katherine has told me what she believes to be the utmost truth... and yet, she also brings with her some very bad omens. Omens which make me doubt her word."

"The mark," Saruman stated; it wasn't even a question. "This would mean that the girl has it as well... interesting."

"You know of it?" Gandalf asked, feeling surprised for a moment.

"There was... a rather odd scenario that presented itself to me five evenings ago," Saruman calmly explained. "The boy was demanding that I take him to find his sister... he was rather adamant about it, I should add. And yet, within the blink of an eye, he simply vanished from the world. Right in front of me."

Gandalf's eyes widened when he recalled the events that had occurred on the night Bilbo had left the Shire.

How Katherine had turned completely invisible and how he'd still felt her little hands tugging on him with frantic desperation.

"This does not bode well," Gandalf grimly explained, cursing under his breath. "Saruman, where is the boy now?"

"That is indeed the oddest part," the man stated simply, looking at him with shadowed eyes. "He's in my tower. Something within his eyes changed after he reappeared. He was not himself. I'm rather curious to hear what you know, Gandalf... many questions I have might be answered through your wisdom."

Gandalf's lips pressed into a thin line and he slowly turned his head, staring at his superior with a grim expression.

"I believe that Sauron is returning," the wizard stated in a low tone. "The One Ring has been found... it is safe, for the moment, but I am currently worried about the children who came here on the Eagle. Burned into their flesh is the Curse of the One Ring... and somehow, I believe that they are connected to it in a way that stretches deeper than the boundaries of the flesh. It is unlike anything I've ever seen."

"You are sure of this?" Sarumon inquired.

Gandalf took a moment to respond, lifting his eyes to the beauty of the gardens around Isengard.

"Beyond any doubt," he murmured, shaking his head. "Any at all. "

"So," Saruman stated, looking rather stunned by the news; slowly turning his head as they walked, he stared at Gandalf with an odd gleam in his eyes. "The ring of power has been found."

"All these long years it was in the Shire," Gandalf muttered, letting out a sigh. "Under my very nose."

"Yet you did not have the wit to see it," the white one quietly scolded, mouth growing taught. "Your love of the halfling's leaf has clearly slowed your mind."

"But we still have time," Gandalf countered, demeanor becoming reproachful. "Time enough to counter Sauron and protect those children AND the Ring if we act quickly."

"Time?" Saruman stated loudly, feet coming to an abrupt halt; Gandalf, startled by his sudden pause, turned to meet his superior's gaze. He looked rather disbelieving, and his countenance was serious. "What time do you think we have?"

With that, he lifted his hand and waved it.

Like smoke upon water, the world rippled and Gandalf suddenly found himself standing in Saruman's tower. After whisking over to a nearby bookcase, the white-haired man pulled a bottle of wine off the top shelf and poured it into a wineglass. Then he sat down and turned to to confer with Gandalf, sitting amidst his ancient scrolls, books, numerous quills, and a few jars containing strange creatures.

"Sauron has regained much of his former strength," Saruman stated, looking at Gandalf with grim eyes. "He cannot yet take physical form, but his spirit has lost none of its potency. Concealed within his fortress, the Lord of Mordor sees all — his gaze pierces cloud, shadow, earth and flesh. You know of what I speak, Gandalf. A great Eye… lidless… wreathed in flame."

The old man's eye twitched when he recalled Katherine's explanation.

Then he thought of the fearful vision he'd seen after touching the ring.

"The Eye of Sauron," he muttered, jaw tightening in an instant.

"He is gathering all evil to him," Saruman stated. "Very soon he will summon an army great enough to launch an assault upon Middle-Earth. And once that happens, he will come for the two white children."

"You know this?" Gandalf asked, blue eyes glimmering with fear and unease. "How?

"I have seen it," Saruman replied, smirking before slowly turning his head and looking at a closed set of doors; without further ado, they opened of their own accord and a white-haired boy sitting on a large stone chair was revealed. "That's the boy."

The silver-haired boy's large pink eyes flew open and he straightened up in alarm, staring at Gandalf when he walked into the room.

"W-who are you?" he demanded, getting to his feet and lifting his arm with a taught jaw. "Answer me!"

The wizard, on the other hand, was momentarily struck dumb: the child in front of him was nearly identical to Katherine. He had never before seen two beings so alike that they practically shared the same face. Hence why it baffled him... even down to the lips and their bone structure, Katherine and Nathaniel were the same. The only obvious differences wee Nate's shorter hair and more pronounced jawline.

On the large throne behind him was a navy blue blazer that looked very much like the one Katherine was always wearing.

"I am here to collect you, my boy," Gandalf stated in relief, shaking his head before he moved forward and held out his hand; Nate warily backed off until Gandalf opened his palm and revealed the familiar black ribbon. "I have a message from your sister, Katherine. She said to tell you, quote on quote, '_if you do anything to that ribbon before Gandalf gets you back to me, I swear to god I will SKIN you, Nathaniel Sanders._'"

His eyes widened and he snatched the ribbon, staring at it with huge eyes.

"You know where my sister is?!" Nathan demanded, eyes huge and angry. "Where?! Where is she?! Is she all right?!"

"Yes, my dear boy, she's perfectly fine... in fact, I've made her a promise to reunite the two of you," Gandalf muttered, nodding before he turned and looked at the pedestal in the center of the room: an object covered in dark cloth was siting on it. After a moment, the old man's gentle blue eyes widened and he hurried over, gaze turning dark. "A Palantír is a dangerous tool, Saruman."

"Why?" Saruman inquired, instantly walking over and unveiling the Palantír; across the room, Nathan flinched and covered his ears, shivering somewhat: to him, it looked like a perfectly spherical ball made of some sort of dark glass, with strange swirls in its depths. "Why should we fear to use it?"

"Cover it back up!" the boy angrily squeaked, making Gandalf stare at him. "Everytime you use that thing, those freaky whispers come back! Cover it up!"

Gandaf's eyes widened.

"They are not all accounted for, the lost Seeing Stones," he explained, giving the man a serious look as he bent down and grabbed the cloth. "We do not know who else may be watching!"

When he attempted to cover the Palantir back up, heat surged into his fingers and a flash of the burning eye seared through his mind. His hand instantly stilled and shock went through him: the old man stared off into space, trying to comprehend what the vision could mean, as Sarumon slowly moved towards Nathaniel. The albino boy backed away and moved off to the side with wary eyes as the white-clad man sat down.

"The hour is later than you think," Saruman stated quietly, lifting his dark eyes. "Sauron's forces are already moving. The Nine have left Minas Morgul in search of the ring and the two white ones."

"The Nine!" Gandalf breathed, slowly moving forward. "The nine..."

"They crossed the River Isen on Midsummer's Eve," Saruman explained, "disguised as riders in black."

"What?!" Gandalf demanded, eyes widening and weathered face turning white with anxiety. "They've reached the Shire?!"

"They will find the ring..." the white wizard stated, "and kill the one who carries it. Then they will depart in search of the ones who bears Sauron's mark."

Gandalf's eyes widened in horror.

"Frodo... Katherine..." he whispered, then lifted his hand in Nathan's direction. "Come, my dear boy! We must go!"

"Huh?" Nathan asked, eyes becoming somewhat uncertain. "What do you mean?!"

"Come here!" Gandalf exclaimed, waiting with frantic eyes. "Now!"

Looking uneasy, Nathaniel Sanders slowly moved forward until he was standing beside the wizard, but before he could so much as ask what was going on, the old man clutched his wrist and turned to run for the doors. Unfortunately, the abruptly slammed themselves shut, which made Nathan jump: blinking, Gandalf turned and started to move for another set of doors. They slammed shut as well. every time the wizard turned, a set of doors slammed shut until, finally, there were no more exists left open. It was then that Gandalf turned and looked at Saruman.

"You did not seriously think that a hobbit could contend with the will of Sauron?" Saruman pleasantly inquired. "There are none who can. Against the power of Mordor there can be no victory. We must join with him, Gandalf... we must join with Sauron. It would be wise, my friend."

For a long moment, the blue-eyed man merely stared at his former superior, already knowing that he had fallen into darkness.

Behind him, Nathan glanced back and forth, not understand what the hell was going on.

"Tell me, 'friend'," Gandalf the Grey stated simply. "When did Saruman the wise abandon reason for madness?!"

Eyes snapping open wide, Sarumon let out a bellow of rage and thrust his staff outwards: Nathan let out a squall of alarm and dove out of the way when Gandalf went flying off his feet and was pinned against the wall behind him. The boy watched with huge eyes as the old man was held there by the white wizard, who slowly got to his feet and started moving towards them.

After a moment, Gandalf fell and landed hard on his stomach.

"A-are you okay?" Nate demanded, attempting to step forward only to have the wizard turn his staff on him; the boy's eyes widened when a gale of wind assault him. Letting out a shout, the albino was thrown clean into the air and landed hard on his back, skidding across the floor. "OW! What the fuck?!"

Stay out of this, boy!" Saruman sneered.

The moment he took his eyes off Gandalf, however, the old man thrust his own staff out and his legs were yanked out from underneath his body. Landing hard on his back. Eyes large with fury, the white-robed man thrust his staff out again and two tears slashed themselves into Gandalf's forehead; he countered by swinging his staff and sending Saruman flying off his feet. Then he rolled upright and whirled around, but was instead hit by a gale of unseen magic that sent him flying in circles.

"Ow... that hurt..." Nathan groaned, clutching his back; when he finally managed to sit up, he was horrified to discover that Gandalf was being thrown around like a rag doll. Finally, it seemed as though he had the upper hand: Saruman went flying through a nearby set of doors. Feeling confused and more than a little frightened, the boy demanded, "what the hell is going on here?"

And that's when Gandalf lost: the moment his eyes flicked to the albino's face, Saruman's hand flew out and his staff went sailing across the room and clean into his grasp. Gandalf was instantly smashed backwards against the ground: Nathan's eyes widened and he slowly tried to crawl over, but another wave of magic sent him sliding into the wall. He felt a sharp pain in his shoulder and hissed. Saruman finally advanced on Gandalf with both staffs, spinning the man helplessly just above the floor.

"I gave you the chance of aiding me willingly," he snarled, "but you… have elected… the way of… pain!"

Thus, lifting the staffs, he sent the helpless man flying towards the enormous ceiling, straight to the the pinnacle of Orthanc.

Once Gandalf had smashed into the ceiling, Saruman turned on Nathaniel, who was scrabbling against the wall and staring up at the floating wizard with enormous eyes. Whisking forward, he grabbed Nathaniel's wrist and jerked him dragging him over to the pedestal in the center of the room.

Jerking the cover off the Palantir, he struggled to make the boy's hand touch it.

Nathan, who once again started hearing the sinister whispers the moment the cloth had been removed, struggled violently.

"Let go of me, you bastard!" he roared, pupils contracting into catlike slits; his hand was shaking and his muscles bulged as he struggled to keep from touching the object in front of him. "LET GO! I DON'T WANT TO TOUCH THAT NASTY THING! GET OFF ME!"

"Do not defy me," Saruman spat, violently jerking on his arm and forcing his fingers to make contact with the glass. "Now... the time has come."

Nathaniel's eyes widened and he gasped as the whispers filled his head, and before he could so much as blink, his shoulder erupted with agony. Letting out a scream of pain, the boy shook his head back and forth as his vision was obscured with an odd yellow haze. Then... quite abruptly, he stopped struggling altogether: his fearful expression went slack... his eyes became dull, and his irises twinkled with an odd yellow glimmer before losing their sheen. Shoulders relaxing, the boy merely stood in place for a long moment, not moving an inch.

Saruman let go of him once it was clear he wasn't struggling.

"What are you?" the man asked. "What is your purpose?"

"I am nothing," he stated in a robotic tone, eyes not wavering. "My purpose is your will alone."

"Perfect," Saruman whispered, smiling in a triumphant manner. "I have your first task, my boy. Discover the location of the One Ring... then, go find your sister... and bring her to me. Dead or alive, it matters not, so long as we have the shell."

"Yes, master," Nathaniel droned, slowly making his way towards the doors, which opened of their own accord. "As you wish."

High above, Gandalf watched the albino leave with an expression of horror.

There was nothing he could do now.

* * *

><p><span><strong>Author's Inquisition:<strong> uh... yeah, you all know I'm getting married to Saelind, right? Well, my sister just informed me that she's dating Saelvan. And I kind of get the feeling that something is wrong with that particular picture - legal wise. And yet, I can't put my finger on it. Feedback in a PRIVATE MESSAGE would be appreciated. Don't leave the answer in a review, please, lol.


	20. Chapter 19: The Horsemen in Black

**Chapter Nineteen: The Horsemen in Black**

_Black... it was all black... nothingness._

_No color._

_No light._

_No sound._

_Nothing but an endless darkness that stretched on endlessly beyond her closed eyelids. She felt so weak that she couldn't even open them... she could feel herself floating weightlessly in the frigidness of this icy void, could feel the fierce winds lifting her hair... and yet, she couldn't move. She felt so weak that her body was incapable of doing anything. She wanted to open her eyes... she wanted to see where she was, why everything was so cold and windy... why she felt so weightless._

_When she finally managed to lift her eyelids, she realized with a dazed sense of horror that there was nothing in front of her._

_Everything was black. _

_An empty void of nothingness._

_Until... the darkness suddenly cracked like a pane of glass, making her blink rapidl_

_More cracks soon jolted down in front of her... almost seeming to form understandable words, even though they were nothing but jagged lines and odd fissures._

_And yet... and yet, her heart thumped without warning and her eyes slowly widened as an inexplicable horror built up inside her soul: she somehow recognized these symbols... not only that, she understood what they meant. _

_These weren't cracks... they were words of a language that she had been taught a long time ago... she had been taught by someone that she held close to her heart, even to this day... when everything about that person had disappeared from her mind. _

_And yet, somehow, the sight of these words made her tremble._

_These symbols burned themselves into her eyes... but then, more of them began fraying the endless blackness in resting all around her, cracking it into pieces. She tried to close her eyes again when the symbols continued to shatter the darkness... but then, out of all the blinding words in front of her, one started glowing red and she felt her heart skip a beat. _

_Her name... it was her own name! _

_Katherine!_

_Katie started choking when her true name shifted from a hot bright red to a darker shade of crimson, almost seeming to sizzle with something vile._

_Then the name shifted... and her eyes widened when she saw the name 'Taruiel' taking shape._

_"No... no! I'm not Tauriel!" she managed to gasp, voice coming out strangled. "I am Katie! I am Katie! I am Katherine!"_

_Just like that... the darkness shattered and the world exploded with light._

_Kate suddenly saw a vision herself running with an outstretched hand on top of an endless lake: she seemed to be running nowhere even though she was going at top speed... and she was also reaching for something with desperation on her face. Then her doppelganger started stumbling and finally lost her balance, long hair being blasted forward by something... then she whirled around and stood frozen before she lunged in the opposite direction. As she fell, she reached out and grabbed something invisible._

_Then her hair was blasted towards the sky and the apparition slipped into the lake, vanishing without even a ripple._

_There was an unexpected flash of light, similar to a lightning strike, and it erased the vision from view._

_When she was able to see again, she witnessed Frodo standing in the middle of a blue void._

_He was being blown around by a fierce wind... a wind that seemed to be coming from every direction and was pelting him mercilessly. His curly hair was flying this way and that and his cloak was being jerked as if the wind had unseen hands. Tears were streaming from his eyes and being blown off his face as he stood there, locked in place by the wind, teal eyes facing the sky and yearning for something that Kate couldn't see._

_Then another flash swept the vision away... and she saw her brother, Nathan, standing soaking wet amongst a grove of familiar pink flowers and looking straight at her._

_His amethyst eyes looked blank and cold with an unbearable amount of sadness. _

_Her weakness increased when she saw his mouth moving and a tear slid down his pale cheek like a diamon. Nate was the strongest person she knew... she never wanted to see his tears, ever. He was her pillar of stone... the one man she knew to be rock solid in every decision he made. However, that one tear sliding out of his empty eyes nearly broke her._

_Then he faded into white..._

_"**You will be fine**..." a voice whispered, making her heart still. "**I made a promise**..."_

In that instant, it happened without warning. One moment she was sleeping like a log, completely dead to the world; the next, her eyes were suddenly wide open and she choked.

Eyes going wide with incomprehension, she started breathing raggedly and frantically began wriggling around. Once she was free of her cloak, Katherine bolted into an upright position and hugged her stomach, coughing violently as a strange clenching sensation smashed into her gut.

The feeling brought with it a barrage of inexplicable terror.

For several moments, an odd sense of numbness swept throughout her body... but then it faded.

When the odd fear dissolved, she suddenly knew.

She knew something bad had happened to her twin.

How she knew, she didn't know...

She simply knew it.

Fortunately, after a moment, her mind began to rationalize. And like always, she somehow managed to choke back het anxiety long enough to convince herself that it was all just in her head.

Nathan was safe.

Gandalf had said so himself.

Rubbing her sleep-filled eyes, the girl glanced around in a dazed manner and took note of her surroundings. Dawn had barely broken: everything was still dark, and the sky above was barely lit up. Even so, the hobbits were still sleeping and since she obviously wasn't going back to bed, she decided to get fully dressed.

It wasn't until she attempted to stand up that she realized just how sore her body was, though: her limbs ached, her head was killing her, and she felt abnormally dizzy. On top of that, the poor girl felt dazed... almost as though she'd slept for a long time and had somehow been completely unaware of it: her tongue was dry and full of cotton, her throat was parched, and her body felt weak.

Plus, she was slightly sunburned all over.

It was a horrible combination of bodily discomfort.

_I'm not touching alcohol ever again_, Kate silently growled, grumpily pulling leaves and twigs out of the tangled white haystack her hair had somehow turned into. _I hate admitting it, but now I kind of get why Toni was always such a bitch in the mornings... hangovers are awful._

After she'd picked the foliage out of her tangled tresses, she laboriously got to her feet and walked over to Frodo's pack, looking for the carved bone brush she'd seen him tuck away. It took a few minutes, but once she'd found it, the girl grumpily began to run it through her hair with extremely gentle motions, being highly careful to avoid pulling out any strands of her head.

Truthfully, she didn't like her long hair all that much, but she had never cut it even once in her whole life, aside from the occasional trimmings on her split ends and bangs.

The main reason?

Only two days before her death, Emily had asked her to promise that she wouldn't. Her elder sister had supposedly loved the way it had looked on her, and Kate never broke her promises.

Which, it should be noted, was why she almost never made any.

Another, less important reason, was that her tresses had been surprisingly useful for covering up the bruises that Toni had always given her whenever she was changing in the girls' locker rooms at school.

As far as she was concerned, she was obligated to deal with it.

Once her hair was back to being somewhat straight and felt sleek enough for comfort, Katherine carefully donned her red necktie and put on her school blazer. Then she sat down again and waited, drawing her knees close to her chin as she contemplated everything that was going on. She hadn't been able to get her brother's well-being off her mind ever since she'd gotten here... but now that she knew he was safe, she was tired.

Not in a physical way, but in an emotional and mental way.

Part of her was wondering if she had gone insane, while another part couldn't believe anything. She'd been a writhing ball of anxiety for days on end.

And that was not healthy.

When Frodo and Sam both started to stir, she didn't even notice: she simply stared off into space, buried deep within the recesses of her mind.

"Katherine, you're already awake?" Frodo finally asked, sleepily sitting up and stretching with a yawn; his curly black hair was somewhat disheveled and his clothes were wrinkled, but he looked fairly energized for the most part. "You should've woken me! I would've made first breakfast for you and Sam had I known you were awake."

Kate lifted her head and gave him a blank look, not processing his words for some reason.

After a moment, she set her chin back down on her knees, eyes glazed for some reason.

"Are you all right?" Frodo quipped, slowly drawing her gaze to his face yet again. "Your face is rather flushed."

The eyes that were now staring at her were full of subtle worry, so Kate merely gave him a tired nod.

"I'm fine," she croaked, then blinked a few times, startled by how hoarse she sounded. "Really. Yesterday just put a lot of stress on me, that's all."

Well," Frodo sighed, giving her a look of dismay, "now that we're all finally awake, I should probably get breakfast going."

"All right," Kate murmured, giving him a nod, and with that, he got up and headed over to his backpack, leaving Kate to her thoughts. Within the hour, the three of them were fed and getting ready to go: Kate shakily donned her cloak when the hobbits finished packing up their campsite, but when she glanced at the brightening sky and saw that it was overcast, she was incredibly relieved.

"At any rate," she muttered, stretching her slim body with a groan, "at least I won't burn as much today."

Even so, Kate's limbs were sore, the burns on her chest and arm were stinging, and she still had that Godawful headache.

However, despite her extreme discomfort, when the hobbits set out on their endless march to nowhere, she followed them without complaint. Not that she didn't want to, of course... she simply didn't have the energy. As they walked, Sam remained close to Frodo, but Kate drifted beyond the group, lingering quite a bit behind them. She was having trouble keeping up, if she was going to be honest.

The farther they traveled, the less woodsy the scenery became... and soon, there were corn fields and hobbit holes lying all around them.

It was around noon when Frodo turned and led them into one such corn field.

Kate didn't like his decision, and since she was already having trouble keeping up, she felt like it was a bad idea. Even worse, Frodo had started off without even noticing that she was falling behind, so the girl took a deep breath and decided to tough it out. Hesitantly pushing into the cornfield, the white-haired girl followed her companions with a shivering body.

Sam turned around twice to make sure she was still in sight, and she was mildly comforted by how uncomfortable he looked.

Apparently, she wasn't the only one who didn't like it.

Unfortunately, not long after they went into the field, the girl's dizziness skyrocketed and she started stumbling. She tried to keep going, and even attempted to use the corn growing around her to keep herself upright. But then, her vision flickered and the world around her turned oddly gray.

_Am I going to pass out?_ she dazedly wondered, barely even noticing when she stumbled out of the corn and onto a path of some sort. _Where... where are they...?_

She couldn't see anyone.

The cornfield blurred and turned bright just before her eyes rolled: stumbling, the girl tried to stay upright, but instead she went down on her knees and face-planted into the dirt. She was only lying there for about thirty seconds before Sam broke free of the corn just two feet away from her. He only noticed she was there because he tripped over her arm, though.

"Dirty little roots," Sam muttered, looking down in irritation; however, the moment he saw a body instead of the expected plant, his face drained of color and he knelt down. "Miss Katherine?!"

When he shook her, he got no response.

"Hey, are you all right?" he asked, rolling her over and patting her flushed cheeks; her face was flushed and her face felt hot. "Miss Katherine! Are you okay?!"

The girl didn't respond; she merely lay there breathing hard with her eyes squeezed shut. However, they snapped open when the Hobbit slid his walking staff into his pack and unexpectedly lifted her into his arms, Bridal Style. After he finished adjusting her to weight, he started walking again, ignoring the weak flail of protest she gave him.

"I'm fine, really," she croaked. "Just need a minute."

However, the girl gave up when his hands tightened on her thigh and shoulder, preventing her from moving.

Lips taught, he carried her into another cornfield towards Frodo without faltering, but secretly, Kate was extremely impressed. He was already toting a hiking pack that had to have weighed over a hundred pounds. Being able to carry her on top of that was a shocking feat.

"We'll find a nice cool place for you to sit down," the Hobbit muttered after a long, lulling silence. "You're ill, so just rest until then."

The girl couldn't argue.

Cradled in his strong arms, she felt oddly lulled, and her head swayed with the pace of his footsteps.

She could hear the cornstalks crunching as he shouldered through them.

Then, Sam abruptly halted.

For a long moment, he didn't move.

"Mr. Frodo?" he called, looking around the path they had just stepped into. "Miss Katherine fainted... I think we should rest."

There was no response.

Sam's grip on her tightened even further and he hurried down the path.

"Mr. Frodo?" he called again, eyes widening when he once again received no response. His pace instantly picked up. "Frodo! Mr. Frodo!"

Kate winced since he shouted it, but she felt a little relieved when the dark-haired youth hastily walked around a bend and looked at them, eyes confused.

"What is it, Sam?" he inquired.

"I thought I'd lost you," the blonde sighed in relief, hefting Katie's weight before moving forward. "Don't wander off alone."

"What are you talking about?" Frodo asked, looking at him in confusion. "Lost me?"

"It's just something Gandalf said," Sam muttered. "Really."

"What did he say?" his friend curiously inquired.

"'Don't you lose him, Samwise Gamgee,'" Sam quoted, giving him a firm look. "And I don't mean to."

Sam, we're still in The Shire," the dark-haired youth chuckled, lifting his arms. "What could possibly happen?"

As if a higher power were trying to provide an answer, someone came charging out of the cornfield and crashed straight into him. Kate let out a squeak when Sam was knocked to the ground a split second later by someone else.

Somehow, Kate found herself lying flat on her back with something heavy resting on top of her stomach.

"Ow..." she groaned, slowly opening her eyes and blinking a few times. "That hurt."

"Lady Katherine?" a male voice asked, sounding a bit startled. "What are you doing here?"

She froze like a statue when she saw a familiar pair of bright hazel eyes staring straight into hers from only an inch away.

"Long story, Pippin," she peeped, feeling her ears burning. "Still, could you get off me now?"

"Oh... uh, m-m-my apologies," he spluttered, face turning red as he removed himself from her chest and pulled her upright. "I... well, uh... it was an accident, and... I didn't mean to, honestly."

"Frodo?!" another familiar voice snorted in surprise. "Pippin! Look! Its Frodo Baggins!"

The hazel-eyed hobbit instantly looked at Merry to see him lying on top of Frodo, who looked rather confused.

"Hallo Frodo!" he cheerfully chirped.

Right around that moment, Sam finally got back on his feet and roughly pulled Merry off of the dark-haired hobbit.

"Get off him!" he groused, making a shooing motion before helping his friend up. "Are you all right, Mr. Frodo?"

"What's the meaning of this?" the hobbit plainly asked, watching as Merry and Pippin hurriedly picked up the vegetables they'd dropped. "What are you doing?"

"Hold these," Merry pleasantly stated, heaping them into Sam's arms. The sandy-haired hobbit blinked at the veggies before his mouth fell open in disbelief.

"You've been into Farmer Maggot's crop!" he cried, looking at them with stunned eyes. "Have you got no shame?"

"And these," Merry gushed, plopping another armful of plants onto the pile and effectively answering his question. "Don't worry, that's all we took."

"You two really are trouble makers," Kate sighed, rolling her eyes in dismay. "Seriously, someday it's going to bite you in the back."

As if to prove her point, an angry-sounding dog barked in the distance and they turned to see a bobbing scythe being held high above the corn.

"Hoi!" an enraged voice barked, filling the air. "Get out of my fields! Oh, you just wait till I get this through you! You'll know the devil if I catch up with you!"

"Time to go," Pippin laughed, gripping Katie's hand and tugging her through the cornfield. "Run!"

Similarly, Merry pushed Frodo in their direction and ran off.

For several seconds, Sam looked from the plants to the scythe in blatant confusion, but then he realized what was happening and dropped the vegetables. Then, as if the devil himself were chasing him, he bolted into the field after Frodo and the others.

"What did you do to make that creep come after you with a scythe?!" Kate cried, struggling to keep her balance as she was pulled along. "Seriously!"

"Really dunno why he's so upset!" Merry called back. "It was only a couple of carrots!"

"Oh, and some cabbages and those few bags of potatoes that we lifted last week," Pippin cheerfully added, looking back at her with a grin as they ran. "And the mushrooms the week before."

"Yes, Pippin," Merry groaned, sounding flabbergasted. "My point is, he's clearly overreacting!"

"Shut up and run!" Sam bellowed. "I don't wanna be no one's supper!"

However, their good luck came to an end when Pippin pulled her through a small copse of trees.

Kate only saw the edge of the cliff just as she and Pippin were about to go over it. Eyes flashing open wide, the skinny girl gasped and dug her heels into the ground, yanking Pippin to a halt just just before he tumbled off the ledge. He instantly looked down and blanched, toes poking over the edge of the chasm.

"What now?" the girl asked.

Pippin opened his mouth to speak just as Merry crashed into her from behind, shoving the albino into his side; the girl let out a squeak of protest when she was squashed between them.

Then, as if karma were trying to play a joke, Sam smashed into Merry and they all went flying off the edge. Kate squealed when ahe and the boys took a tumble down the steep hill together, only to land in a heap on the road below.

After a moment, Kate entangled her legs from Sam's arm and checked herself, feeling thoroughly relieved to discover that she was unharmed.

Nearby, Pippin looked up only to spot a pile of manure right next to his head.

"Ooh!" he whistled, shuddering. "That was close!"

"Ugh! I think I've broken something," Merry groaned, reaching under his back and pulling out a broken carrot. "Never mind."

"For heaven's sake," Sam muttered, grumpily crawling to his feet. "Trust a Brandybuck and a Took!"

"What?" Merry teased, grinning like a fox. "It was just a detour. A shortcut!"

"A shortcut to what?!" Sam groused.

In that moment, Merry looked ahead and grinned devilishly.

"Mushrooms!" he breathed, pointing at the patch of delicious fungi. "Let's grab some!"

Almost immediately, Sam, Merry, and Pippin charged for the mushrooms.

Frodo rolled his eyes and smiled, then turned and walked a little ways up the road. Kate, on the other hand, was feeling more than a little ill, so she merely sat where she'd landed and watched the trio wrestle around like a bunch of school-boys over candy. After a few minutes, Sam came to sit by her with seven mushrooms as a prize. Merry and Pippin continued to wrestle and laugh.

But it was in that moment that a sudden cold chill snapped down Kate's spine.

Her face tensed, since she recognized the sensation.

The spirit inside her had woken up again.

With prickles running up and down her arm, the girl slowly turned her head and looked down the road, eyes large and unblinking. As she watched, the clouds resting in the sky above slowly began to darken and an odd shadow crept across the land. Her hair stood on end when the wind kicked up a few dead leaves: there was a creepy, ominous feeling settling in the very pit of her stomach.

Standing directly in the middle of where she was looking, Frodo had frozen solid.

"Sam," she whispered, clutching his arm without lowering her fearful gaze. "Sam, we have to get out of here..."

"What for?" Sam asked, glancing at her in surprise. "Are you feeling better now?"

"No, but we have to get going," she stated uneasily, giving him a shaken look. "Something isn't right. I have a feeling that something horrible is about to happen. We need to move. Right now."

Just as she said it, a screech echoed in the distance, searing through her heart like ice.

The girl jumped upright with a terrified expression just as Frodo whirled around, eyes frightened.

"Get off the road!" he shouted, bolting for the forest. "Hurry!"

Merry and Pippin were just as startled as Sam, but they all hurried after him. Kate, with her dizziness, found it harder to keep up, but she made she kept her feet long enough to get herself out of danger. The roots of an upturned tree created a curved shelter that had allowed all four hobbits to hide from anyone traveling along the main path.

It was an ingenious hiding place, but there was one problem.

There wasn't enough room for her to fit without being seen.

Kate frantically glanced around as the hairs on her neck prickled, then gave up and darted over to the nearest tree like a spooked rabbit. Taking cover behind the thick trunk, the girl pressed herself against the wood with a thudding heart. Not even a minute after she slid down to the ground, Kate heard the thudding hooves of a horse galloping down the road.

Her throat closed up when it came to a halt dangerously close to where she was cowering.

The girl covered her mouth and nose and squeezed her eyes shut when she heard whoever it was get of his horse and sniff the air. However, she tried to rationalize with herself: perhaps the person was just a traveler who was passing by on his horse. At the moment, she couldn't really be certain.

So, she did the unthinkable: she carefully shifted her position and slowly peered around the tree.

She nearly choked when she saw a familiar tattered black-robed creature kneeling down next to the ditch where the hobbits were hiding. Her mouth trembled... she could see the Hobbits pressed back against the dirt with inexplicable fear on their faces.

However, Kate blinked when Frodo's expression suddenly changed.

In that moment, a barrage of oily whispers filled her ears.

"_Put it on..._" a hellish voice hissed, making her stiffen; eyes huge, she watched as Frodo's eyes rolled back into his head. "_Let me see you... let me keep you... put... it... on..._"

Kate was horrified when he pulled it out.

She wanted to leap over and stop him, to scream at him, to do SOMETHING.

But she couldn't.

If she moved, that THING would find her.

But if he put it on, she had no doubt that it would find both of them.

The girl shuddered when his hand trembled: the ring was hovering just above his finger.

In that moment, she said a prayer and bent down, grabbing a few good sized stones. Then, carefully sliding to her feet, she threw them as far away from the hobbits as she could with all of her strength ... just as a mushroom went flying across the road. A horrifying screech came from the black-robed creature, very-nearly splitting Katie's eardrums.

The girl covered her ears as it lunged back onto its mount around and galloped away, screeching like a banshee. When it was gone, Katherine's knees buckled and she fell out into the open: seeing her fall, the hobbits instantly broke free of their hiding place and came running over.

"Let's get the hell out of here before that thing comes back!" the small girl hissed, crawling back to her feet with a mortified expression. "I don't want to find out what it wants!"

"What was it?!" Merry asked, looking at her. "I've never heard such a terrible sound."

"I have no clue," Kate stated seriously, pulling her hood up, "but whatever it is, it's definitely NOT friendly."

The hobbits nodded before turning around and running away from the creature in black.

For nearly six minutes, they ran as quickly as they could.

Kate's arms pumped and her chest heaved as she ducked and dodged branches as she ran, trying to keep up with her traveling companions. Eventually, the group found themselves sprinting down another hill and slipping because of the steep incline. Unfortunately, Frodo ended up tripping because of it and rolled clean into Kate, who's feet went flying out from underneath her.

The girl squealed when she fell flat on her ass and went skidding the rest of the way down.

When she came to rest near Frodo, who had come to a halt near a tree, he looked at her apologetically.

"Sorry," he croaked, wiping the dirt off his nose. "Are you all right?"

"Shockingly enough, I think I am," Kate replied, giving him a look. "Considering how hard I landed on my butt, by all rights I should have been hurt... but I think the dirt may have cushioned my fall. If it was soft enough to slide on, it was probably soft enough for me to avoid bruising myself."

The two of them were hoisted back to their feet by their companions.

"Do you think we lost it?" Sam asked, giving Frodo a look. "You don't think it saw us, right?"

Frodo didn't have time to respond, though, because another unholy screech split the air and sent all of them into another terrified frenzy. Then, the frantic sprint to safety began anew. The rest of the day passed in the same manner: Kate and the others had run and hid from the Rider, but after about an hour they'd discovered that there was more than one.

And had almost gotten caught by making that discovery.

They fled until long after the sun had set, but by that point, Kate was totally exhausted.

And because of it, she had to stop.

"I... can't... run... anymore!" she panted, finally coming to a halt and sinking down to her knees; the others instantly stopped and hurried back. "I just... can't... keep... doing this..."

"Is there anything following us?" Merry heaved, wiping the sweat off his brow. "I haven't heard a screech for a while now..."

"Nothing that I can see," Sam wearily replied, burying his head in his hands. "This is terrifying."

"What's going on?" Pippin weakly asked, tripping over a root and lying face down on the ground.

He didn't look as though he were inclined to move anytime soon.

"That Black Rider was looking for something," Merry stated, glancing at Frodo before suspiciously staring at Kate, "or someone..."

When the girl shuddered and hugged herself, pupils contracting to the size of pinpricks, Frodo touched his pocket and leaned against a tree for support, aquamarine eyes full of fear.

"We have to leave the Shire!" Frodo whispered, looking at Merry. "Sam, Kate, and I must get to Bree!"

For a long moment, Merry looked at him, contemplating his words.

Looking highly suspicious.

"Buckleberry Ferry," he finally muttered, giving him a nod. "Follow me."

Dragging Pippin to his feet, the man tore off through the woods with Sam close behind: similarly, Frodo grabbed Katherine's wrist and hoisted her upright before tugging her after them. Kate hoped the ferry wasn't too far: her entire body was hurting and she felt as though she were going to throw up.

"Where is Buckleberry Ferry?" she wheezed, making Frodo glance at her. "How far is it?"

"We're almost there," he panted back. "Just try to hold out a bit longer!"

The moment she opened her mouth to respond, an enormous black horse leapt over a fallen tree and landed right in front of them, blocking their path with a screech and cutting them off from the others. Frodo whirled around with a yelp and dug his heels into the ground, causing Kate to crash into him.

The girl let out a shriek when the black stallion reared and pawed at the air with a whinny.

Her eyes widened when the wraith drew a familiar crooked sword and screeched again.

In that moment, her body began moving by itself and she was possessed by the spirit inside her.

Gripping Frodo's shoulders with firm fingers, Katherine's body literally pulled itself into a quick, flexible handstand and VAULTED her over his trembling frame. Once she'd landed, her small hands drew the gleaming sword at her waist from it's sheath and she deflected the blow the monstrosity had sent at them. With a loud clang, the sound of metal against metal filled the air.

Katherine's eyes were wide with fright as her body gripped the weapon and held it at the ready.

"K-Katherine?!" Frodo squeaked, looking at her with huge eyes. "What are you doing?! RUN!"

She didn't answer.

She couldn't.

If she said she wasn't in control, it would make him question things she wanted to keep secret.

When the Nazgul swung at her again, she deflected it a second time and slashed a wide gash across the horse's flank. The beast let out a screech of agony and began to buck like crazy, kicking at the air and throwing the wraith off balance. In that moment, Katherine had control of herself again.

Almost immediately, the girl whirled around and gripped Frodo's hand.

Her frantic pink eyes met his terrified teal ones.

And for a long moment, there was silence.

"Let's go," she whimpered. "Run!"

When she turned and bolted for the water, Frodo was right behind her, but four more black figures came riding out of the trees behind them. The albino felt as though she were going to faint from the terror searing through her, especially since they all started letting out ear-splitting shrieks.

This was far worse than all the times Alan Smirnoff and his buddies had ever chased her.

Combined.

"Get the rope, Sam!" Merry screamed. "Hurry! Hurry!"

Not too far ahead, she saw that their companions were already drifting away in the little boat.

"WAIT!" Katherine wailed, flailing her free arm. "Don't leave without us, you jerks!"

She and Frodo were still about a hundred meters away from them.

"Kate! Frodo! Hurry!" Pippin cried, staring bug-eyed at the two of them. "Come on!"

When they finally managed to sprint down the small dock, she and Frodo leapt into the water without thinking. The dark liquid immediately encased them, but Kate was startled when a heavy weight dragged her down towards the bottom by the hand. She struggled against the sensation until the weight pulling her away from the surface squeezed her palm so much that it hurt.

Her heart nearly stopped.

It was Frodo.

Did he even know how to swim?!

The thought had her mind going into overdrive: kicking her legs as her lungs began to burn, the girl gripped his hand with both of hers and struggled to pull him farther up towards the surface. Then she let go and kicked herself higher before repeating the process.

She did this until their heads broke the surface, and after taking a big breath of air, she gripped Frodo's flailing body red-cross style and began to swim towards the raft. When she made it there, Sam grabbed Frodo and pulled him out. However, just as she grabbed it and attempted to pull herself up, he turned and pulled her out of the water as well.

Kate's arms gave out when she was safe, so she merely rolled over and stared up at the sky through her hair, which had been plastered against her face. Her chest was heaving and her heart was pounding, but hopefully, they were safe for the moment.

After getting a modicum of her strength back, Katie eventually sat up with Sam's help and flopped her wet silver hair out of her face. Then, she glanced at the Riders and watched with haunted eyes as they screeched again and galloped away into the darkness of the forest.

The sound left behind a chill that descended over all of them.


	21. Chapter 20: The Prancing Pony

**Chapter Twenty: The Prancing Pony**

She was done.

Finished.

There was no other way to put it.

She was so close to snapping that all she could do was pray nothing else would happen.

She didn't want to be sitting on a raft, listening to the fading screeches of monsters that wanted to murder her. She wanted to be back in New York, in the safety of her bedroom reading a good book.

But Kate never got what she wanted.

Ever.

Katherine and the hobbits jumped when a series of blinding flashes unexpectedly lit up the horizon, illuminating the sky for nearly ten seconds. During that time, Kate's eyes filled with horrified tears.

The reason?

Almost directly ahead of them was an incredible-looking storm: from what she could make out, it genuinely resembled a small hurricane.

"Oh, my God..." she whispered. "What IS that?!"

Sam winced when he saw it, too.

"Rotten luck," he muttered nervously, shivering as an odd chilliness slid into the warm wind brushing past them. "The storm we've been waiting on for a fortnight is coming... why now, of all times?"

"You don't mean the yearly spring storm?" Pippin asked, blinking in alarm when the elder hobbit nodded. "Well, what are we waiting for?! We need to get off the river and hide below ground."

"How?" Merry sourly muttered, glaring at the sky ahead of them when it flashed again. "The nearest hole is ten miles away."

"True, but I still don't like it," Sam muttered, making everyone stare at him. "Nobody should be outside during the yearly spring spring storm. It ain't natural."

"We're in for a battering no matter what we do since Bree is many miles away," Frodo sighed, shaking his wet hair out. "We might as well get some distance covered before it hits us."

"It makes me nervous, it does," Pippin weakly protested. "We should hunker down!"

In that moment, Kate lost a bit of her patience.

"What's so bad about this storm?" she croaked, looking around in irritated confusion. "I mean, a little wind and rain won't hurt, right? Frodo and I are already soaked, so it can't get much worse."

The males stared at her with wide eyes.

"This isn't just a regular storm," Pippin whispered, giving her an extremely serious look. "This is the _yearly spring storm_! The one that everyone says can flatten trees and toss hobbits to the moon! It's _even_ rumored that one such storm flattered Farmer Maggot's hill a few years back!"

"It's true," Merry grunted, narrowing his eyes in dismay when a heavy rumble of thunder split the air. "And this one looks like one of the fast ones. It's stronger than the larger storms, but thankfully, it passes quicker, too. Still... if I'm right, the wind might be too strong to get past on the river."

"Oh, my, how comforting," Kate muttered sarcastically. "So, I guess that means we'll have to walk."

Surprisingly, they didn't respond.

Kate wasn't sure she felt good about that.

It was still calm when they reached the storm front, but once they entered its shadow, the girl hesitantly looked up. And her eyes immediately widened in shock: the storm had an exotic structure that formed a natural cathedral with a massive arched roof.

It was a wild form of beauty, and it had her feeling utterly captivated and amazed.

However, when the girl lowered her gaze, she saw a giant ripple racing toward them across the water... as well as through the grass and trees on either side of the river, ripping things out of the ground and tearing leaves to shreds.

"Frodo?" she whispered, staring at the extremely distant anomaly with alarmed eyes. "W-what's that?! Look!"

Everyone turned to follow her finger when she pointed, but Sam's face instantly drained of color.

"Merry! Pippin! Get us off the water!" he cried, instantly jerking his hand into the water and paddling like a madman. "Steer us to land! Right now!"

"Aye!" Merry called, hastily steering them towards the shore. "On it!"

Paddling frantically, the two of them somehow steered the raft over to the riverbank until the raft sank into the mud. Kate balked when Frodo gripped her arm and roughly dragged her onshore; behind them, the others frantically tied the raft to a tree and sprinted after them. Kate actually began to panic when Frodo jerkily made his way over to a nearby tree and roughly grabbed onto it.

"What's going on?" the girl asked, blinking when he pulled her close to his side. "Frodo, what's happening?!"

"The storm is about to hit," the hobbit explained. "Just hold on tight. Don't let go of me, understand?"

"If you say so?" she murmured, feeling confused. "Um... is it really that big of a deal, though?"

His lips tightened, but he didn't respond.

Kate got her answer soon enough.

The moment after the other hobbits had finally taken cover, the tempest's wrath struck them like a hammer blow and tore the girl's legs out from underneath her. Katherine screeched like woman being murdered and flailed around, clutching the arm that Frodo had wrapped around her.

The girl's eyes widened when the world around her vanished in a black cloud of dust.

A frenzied howling filled her ears, tearing her hood off her head and tugging at her hair.

"WHAT IS THIS?!" Kate shrieked, voice barely audible over the roar that had engulfed them. "WHAT'S HAPPENING?!"

Frodo didn't respond, busy as he was clinging to the tree.

The wind tore at their hair and clothes with invisible fingers, even as as the air darkened with billowing clouds of dirt and debris. The girl's silver tresses were unexpectedly torn free of the cloak, and her hair literally exploded behind her body like a cloud: the silver strands whipped around her with a shocking amount of force, lashing her cheeks and forcing her eyes shut.

"HOLD ON!" Frodo cried, hefting her up with frightened eyes when she started slipping away from him. "KATE, HOLD ON TO ME! YOU'RE SLIPPING!"

"HELP!" the girl yipped, struggling to keep a grip on his wet skin and failing miserably. "I CAN'T!"

Finger by finger, she started slipping out of his hand.

Then, she was torn free of him: Kate flailed and with a scream of terror, just managed to snatch his outstretched hand with both of her own before she was quite literally blown away. For several moments, the girl's body was almost completely parallel with the mountainous terrain.

Legs dangling behind her, she looked up at Frodo: her amethyst eyes were large as she tried to make her feet touch the ground, but she couldn't get her legs down long enough to attempt crawling back. Her stomach dropped through the ground when she realized just how helpless she was.

Still, Frodo refused to let her go: he fought as hard as he could to keep a grip on her.

However, it was too much... and Kate's heart stopped when his shoulder let out a sickening crunch.

"AUGH!" he wailed, squeezing his eyes shut in agony. "M-MY ARM!"

His hold immediately loosened, and her fingers began to slip.

In that moment, the wind had her.

With an angry yank, the tempest dragged the pale girl into the air.

"Oh, shit..." she whispered, eyes going blank. "This... isn't good..."

For a moment, she was blown back across the earth.

She simply flew above the ground in the position he'd let her go in.

Hand still extended, legs flailing... completely suspended by the power of storm's force; then her foot struck the ground by chance and her own speed caused her to flip backwards, tumbling head over heels three times before she was smashed against the ground on her back.

Then the wind was dragging her across the ground in an extremely painful roll.

"OWWWWW!" the girl wailed, squeezing her eyes shut and screaming at the top of her lungs when she started flipping across the ground uncontrollably. "HELP! HELP!"

Sam, who was hunkered down nearby, happened to catch a glimpse of the girl when she rolled past. With a startled expression, he frantically shed his pack and shoved it into Pippin's arms before he leapt after her, keeping his arms spread. The wind carried him so far it looked like he was flying.

_"_Hang on, Miss Katherine!" the hobbit barked, flailing his arms as he skipped and skidded along the ground towards her; the pale girl had tumbled over an incline and slid out of sight, but she'd finally skidded to a halt against a large boulder. She was now lying on her side and hugging the stone with shaking arms, battered by the wind with her long hair flying in every direction. _"_Don't move a muscle! Try to stay on the ground until I get to you, okay?! Just hang on! I'm coming!"

Just as he said it, a strong gust suddenly lifted him off his feet and he flew into the air with a bellow of surprise. Samwise Gamgee flipped nearly six times in a row thanks to the roaring air currents before the wind shifted again and he was slammed into the ground.

The hobbit landed on his stomach and wheezed when the wind was knocked out of him, but unfortunately_,_ his painful descent wasn't finished: his legs were blown upward because of the angle his body had been in when he'd landed.

The curly-haired youth skidded nearly three yards across the ground in a painful-looking arched position before he was flipped back into the air with a painful jolt that nearly broke his back. Then, he somehow landed on his feet and skidded forward, pressed against the dirt by the wind.

The moment he was back on the ground, however, he frantically made his way forward and ignored the deep gouges in his skin. Katie was only four yards away when he smacked into the same collection of stones, but the Hobbit couldn't get any closer because of how powerful the wind was.

Sam struggled to move against the overpowering gale.

Kate struggled to not get blown away in general.

When Katie's legs unexpectedly lifted above her head and she flipped over the top of the boulder with a shriek, however, Sam jumped and flew toward her, using the wind as a propeller. The hobbit tackled her around the middle and pinned her against his chest before twisting his body to face the sky. Then they landed and went skidding across the dirt towards the edge of a nasty-looking drop-off.

Thankfully, the wind had died down a little, so they didn't actually go over the edge... but that didn't make it any less difficult to move. For several moments, they didn't dare to even let out a twitch.

"Are you all right?!" Sam whispered into her ear, touching Kate's throbbing head and sore neck with gentle fingers. "You're bleeding... y-you aren't seriously hurt, are you?"

It took the girl a long moment to answer him, which sparked a bit of unnecessary worry.

"I... I don't think so," she finally replied, sounding thoroughly shaken. "Nothing's broken, and I'm not hurt too much—but I couldn't do anything... the wind wouldn't... it wouldn't let me go..."

Both of them were panting and trembling with fright: their hair was tangling together because of the fierce gale. However, the two of them lay cradled in each other's arms until the wind died down to a safer degree; then Sam got up and helped pull the girl across the incline where the others were taking shelter.

And for a long time, they just sat still.

Kate clutched her head with both hands, trying to ignore the stinging all over her body. After the dust had stopped filling the air, Sam began digging in his pack and pulled out some bandages and other medical supplies. Kate barely noticed when he applied them to her arms and forehead.

She was too far gone.

Once the wind had died down to a somewhat safer degree, Merry stood up and looked at the river.

"The raft is gone," he groaned, rubbing his eyes. "It was probably torn free..."

"What?" Pippin asked, eyes widening in shock. "So, does that mean...?"

"Yep, it does," Merry grumbled. "We'll have to continue on foot."

Frodo chose that moment to head over, clutching his arm.

"Kate, are you all right?" he asked, drawing her gaze. "I'm so sorry... I didn't mean to let go."

"Not your fault," she woodenly interrupted, staring at the ground with glazed eyes. "Don't worry, I'm fine."

It was a total lie.

She was most certainly NOT fine.

"We should get going," Sam murmured, getting to his feet. "We need to get to Bree. I don't want to sleep in the rain."

"Rain?" Kate asked, looking up at him. "What do you mean, rain? Isn't this just a windstorm?"

"No," the hobbit sighed. "We should get moving."

Unfortunately, the worst had yet to come: after they all stood up and started walking, just as Sam had predicted, a dark curtain of rain began sweeping over the land in rippling gray sheets right towards them. Kate winced when the torrent hit them, shivering as she was soaked through a second time.

The dirt sticking to her body instantly began to run down her skin and meshed with her clothes.

"It's finally raining..." Pippin muttered, shaking his hair out. "Well, at least it'll get easier to travel from this point on."

"Even so, we should be on the lookout for flooding," Merry muttered, looking at them with squinted eyes. "Plus, unless we make it to Bree, we'll be sleeping outside in this horrid weather."

"Can you still walk?" Sam asked, touching Kate's arm with firm eyes. "I know you're probably tired and in pain after all that, but we really need to move if we want to be warm and dry."

It took her a moment to respond.

"I'll manage," she croaked, tucking her hair back inside her cloak and pulling the hood up. "No choice."

Even so, the stinging rain was colder than ice, and before long they were all shivering.

Lightning soon lanced through the sky, flashing in and out of existence: mile-high blue bolts streaked across the horizon, followed by deafening peals of thunder that shook the ground beneath their feet. It was beautiful, yet dangerously so, and the display had Kate on edge.

Here and there, fires were ignited by strikes only to be extinguished by the rain.

Kate didn't know how long she walked for, but she was starting to feel ill and lightheaded.

She nearly started crying in relief when they stumbled onto an unfamiliar cobblestone road and Frodo suddenly let out a laugh.

"We made it!" he cheered, looking at them in delight. "Bree is right over there! Come on!"

"Thank God..." she whined, stumbling after the hobbits when they hastened for the gated entrance. "I can't go any further than this... I was about to collapse..."

Upon inspection, the wall surrounding the town looked to her like something from the American Colonial days. It resembled the wall of a fort, since it was made of thick tree trunks and sturdy logs. The girl shakily touched her bandaged arms and watched as Frodo banged on the door.

A small window at the top opened and a weathered face came into view.

After a few seconds, it was shut again.

Then another window was opened lower down in the doorway.

Katie blinked when she found herself staring into the eyes of a grumpy-looking old man.

"What do you want?" he barked, revealing rotting teeth. "State yer business."

"We're heading for the Prancing Pony," Frodo informed him. "Can you please let us through?"

The gatekeeper shut the window.

Kate felt a little worried that he might have turned them away... but then, a few moments later, he opened the gate and held up a lantern. He examined all five of them with scrutinizing eyes, but his gaze did linger on her quite a bit longer than it should have.

"Hobbits... four hobbits, and a young lass? What's more, out of the Shire by your talk!" he noted, looking at Frodo with suspicious eyes. "What business brings you to Bree?"

"We wish to rest at the Inn," the hobbit stated firmly. "Our business is our own."

"Alright young sir, I meant no offense," the old man sighed, standing aside to let them pass. "My job to ask questions after nightfall. There's talk of strange folk abroad. Can't be too careful."

"Thank you," Frodo murmured. "Now, let's go."

Thus, with a nod, Kate followed the hobbits through the gate, drawing her hood tight around her head to escape the old man's piercing gaze, which was still lingering on her for some reason. The hobbits trudged through the rain up the muddy lane, eager to get out of the elements.

"Whoa!" Sam cried, lunging to the side as a cart came roaring past. "Look out!"

"Out of the way!" the man sitting on the cart bellowed. "Watch where you're walking!"

Kate squealed and jumped out of the way, narrowly missing being crushed by it. She turned and watched as the cart continued on, shivering violently. After that, she stuck close to her companions, since she didn't know what other dangers a place like this could have.

Oddly enough, several burly, cloaked people were walking outside in spite of the awful weather.

"There it is," Pippin sighed, making Kate glance at him. "The Prancing Pony..."

Kate glanced up and immediately spotted the sign in front of the building.

After all, it was pretty hard to miss.

When the hobbits ran up the stairs, she hastily followed them to the tavern. After they opened the doors and darted inside, Frodo wasted no time in slamming them shut. Everyone in the building immediately glanced at them, but Kate was so out of it that she hardly noticed.

"Finally..." she groaned, letting out a sigh. "We made it..."

The pub was warm, dry, and unbelievably loud.

There were two fireplaces, one on each side of the room. Tables and benches had been spread out all over and a huge reception counter lay directly ahead of them. The hobbits immediately headed for the counter, but Kate couldn't gather enough strength to do so.

With a small wince, the girl removed her sopping hood and shook her wet hair out, feeling for all the world like a drowned cat. When she touched the bandage on her head and checked her fingers for blood, without her knowledge, a couple of men raised their eyebrows and smirked her way.

Once she was sure she wasn't bleeding through the cloth, the girl looked around.

She didn't see Gandalf or her brother anywhere.

Feeling dismayed, she over to where the boys were waiting to talk to the barkeep.

"Where are Gandalf and Nathan?" she asked, tapping Frodo's arm. "I don't see either of them."

"That's what I'm waiting to find out," the hobbit explained, giving her a look. "Don't worry, they're probably already waiting for us in one of the rooms."

"I hope so," she mumbled, rubbing her eyes. "Once you rent the room, can I go dry off, please?"

"Of course," Frodo chuckled, then looked at the man behind the counter and stepped forward. "Excuse me, sir?"

The barkeep instantly looked at them with bright eyes and grinned infectiously.

"Good Evening, little masters! What can I do for you ?" he exclaimed, letting out a jolly laugh. "If you're looking for accommodation, we've got some nice, cozy, hobbit-sized rooms available. We're always proud to cater to the little folk. So what'll it be, Mr... ummm?

Frodo opened his mouth, then paused... for a moment, he seemed a little worried.

"Underhill," he finally sighed, then looked at Kate. "My name's Underhill."

"Underhill," the man chuckled, nodding brightly. "Perfect name! It suits the little folk!"

"We're friends of Gandalf the Grey," Frodo explained, giving him a look. "Can you tell him we've arrived?"

"Gandalf?" the man asked, looking puzzled for a moment; he seemed to think about it. "Gandalf... oh yes! I remember! Elderly chap! Big grey beard, pointy hat."

Kate's eyes brightened.

"That's definitely him!" she exclaimed, hurrying forward. "Is he here?! And was there a boy with him who looked like me?! Short, white hair... strange violet eyes... oddly pale?! A bit of a mean streak?!"

"Sorry, Lass, haven't seen anybody like that around," the barkeep stated, blinking at her. "In fact, I haven't even seen Gandalf for six months."

"That... that can't be right," Kate muttered, then turned to look at Frodo. "He did say he would meet us here, right?"

Frodo nodded and turned to look at the other hobbits

"What do we do now?" Sam inquired, looking at them with shadowed eyes. "Do you think he ran into some trouble along the road?"

"I don't know, Sam," Frodo murmured, then glanced at Kate's watering eyes. "Don't worry, Lady Katherine... I'm sure he's just been delayed. For now, let's just rent a room and dry ourselves off."

So saying, he planted some coins on the counter.

"A room for five, please," he stated firmly. "Much appreciated."

Kate wearily trudged behind the hobbits when the man led them through the building and up a set of stairs. However, when she walked into the room she would be sharing with them, she looked around and felt rather surprised to see it was somewhat plushy.

"Can I have a few moments of privacy to wring the water out of my clothes?" Kate asked, turning to look at the boys who'd followed her. "I'm... kind of uncomfortable."

"Aye! We've no clothes to change into, anyway," Merry chuckled, patting his wet trousers. "Pippin and I are gonna head back down to the pub and chug some of the famous fireroot ale I've heard about."

"Will you be alright on your own?" Frodo asked, looking at her with concerned eyes. "I mean, after everything that happened today..."

"What I need the most right now is actually to be alone," Kate carefully told him. "I can't... process any of this with everything going on. Too much has happened. I need some alone time to gather my thoughts and make sense of everything... okay?"

His eyes flickered with worry, but he nodded.

"We'll be waiting for you downstairs," he stated firmly. "Don't take too long, okay?"

So saying, he turned and followed the other hobbits out of the room.

Once the door had closed, the albino girl sighed and shrugged off the sopping wet cloak.

There was a fireplace burning brightly over in the corner, so she hung the cloak up to dry and carefully began removing her clothes. After undoing her tie, she slid it free of her clothes before rapidly unbuttoning her blazer and undershirt. Taking them off and carefully wringing the water out of them, she made sure they were completely free of liquid before she hung them up beside the cloak.

Then she unzipped her skirt and repeated the process.

After she was standing in nothing but her underwear, she took a glance at her hair.

It was tangled so badly that she felt dismay settling in.

However, to her immense relief, she saw an ornate comb of some sort resting on the nightstand.

While she was waiting for her clothes to dry out, she carefully used the time to attempt getting her hair into some sort of manageable order. It was a strenuous and very lengthy process, but in the end, she somehow managed to make her tresses look socially presentable.

Standing up, she tossed them over her shoulder and sighed in relief.

"No more tangles," she murmured, looking at the bandages on her arms. "I'll check on my scratches tomorrow... I don't see any signs of internal bleeding or even any bruising, so I guess I'm okay."

By that point, her school uniform had completely dried off, so she got dressed again.

Once the process of pulling on her stockings and shoes had been finished, she habitually donned her neck tie and straightened her blazer. Unfortunately, the cloak was heavier than her clothes, so it was still fairly wet. It would most likely take a few hours to completely dry off.

Feeling a little disappointed, she left it hanging there.

Fluffing her long hair out, the albino sighed and left the room, closing the door behind her. Upon heading downstairs, she was once again assaulted by noise. There was a lot of drunken, raucous laughter going on in the Inn. Taking a quick look around from her spot in the shadows, she spotted the hobbits sitting around a table near the fireplace opposite the entrance.

Taking a deep breath, Kate moved out into the open and headed over, inching around the people on either side of her. There was a lot going on, so it was fairly difficult to move around freely. She ignored the looks everyone started giving her and kept walking, shoulders hunched and head down.

She was relieved when she finally made it.

Letting out a huff, she sat down beside Frodo and planted her forehead on the table.

"That was awkward beyond belief," she mumbled. "I hate being stared at."

"Well, it's not particularly a bad thing," Merry noted, giving her a smirk. "If they're looking, they probably like what they see."

"Don't even go there," Kate growled, lifting her head and glaring at him. "Seriously."

"What are we supposed to do if Gandalf doesn't show up?" Sam demanded, looking pensive as he thought about it. "I mean, I know he's a wizard and all, but wouldn't it be out of the question to stay here until he arrives? It'd be mighty expensive..."

"Sam, he'll be here," Frodo stated firmly, setting a hand on Kate's arm. "He'll come."

"Bah, too much grim talk," Merry snorted, getting up and heading away. "I'm getting a drink."

Kate sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose, using her lashes to hide the exhaustion in her eyes.

"So much has happened today," she muttered. "I feel drained."

"We all do, I'm sure," Pippin agreed, nodding as he sipped something from a mug. "That storm gave all of us a good fright."

Kate acknowledged that with a shiver.

None of them noticed when a man stood up and started heading towards them until he was standing directly behind Katherine. Pippin and Sam glanced up at him, but both of them frowned when he looked down at the girl's extremely long white hair.

Kate, however, didn't even realize anyone was there until a hand threaded through her tresses.

She instantly froze like a statue and her eyes went wide for a moment.

When the hand continued to weave through her hair, she jerked upright and whirled around.

However, her heart skipped a beat and she leaned back to stare at the giant who'd approached.

He was a rugged man who looked to be in his early forties... blonde, blue-eyed. and bearded.

However, he smelled like he hadn't seen a shower in years, and his face was more than a little greasy.

"Hey, Miss Lady..." he drunkenly slurred, giving her a grin that revealed rotting teeth. "You sure you're in the right men's company?"

"I-I... who... are you?" Kate stammered, face taught with anxiety. "Um... I don't really..."

"Hobbits really are a tad too effeminately endowed for a sweet little thing like you," he chuckled, leaning down and wrapping an arm around her shoulders. "I think you need a real man."

Kate's nose wrinkled as she was engulfed in the smell of sweat, alcohol, and stale vomit.

"I... I think I'll pass, thanks." she stated firmly, carefully extricating herself from his hold. "For now, please go away... I've had a very long day, and I really just want to rest."

So saying, she politely nodded and sat down beside Frodo yet again. There was a long silence behind her and she almost let herself relax, but then a large hand clamped down on her shoulder and he began kissing her neck. Sam and Pippin gasped and Frodo instantly went rigid in shocked outrage.

"Don't be that way," the man roughly whispered into her ear. "You _know _you want it."

"G-get your hands off me, you pervert!" she squeaked. "Right now!"

However, when the man continued to kiss and nip at her neck, she grit her teeth and shakily wrapped her arm around his head. Then, with a vicious snarl, she jerked downwards as violently as she could and cracked his neck. When he let go of her with a strangled cry, the albino girl stood up, drew back her left leg, and sent the most vicious kick she'd ever given to anyone straight into the man's nether regions.

He immediately folded like a ragdoll.

"Little Bitch!" he squawked in mortal agony, rolling around on the ground. "You... whore!"

"Shut up, pervert!" Kate snapped, furiously cocking her hip. "When a woman says no, it means NO, DAMMIT! Now go AWAY! If you ever put your hands on me again, I'll castrate your sorry ass!"

Almost every man in the room winced at the threat.

When he didn't move, however, she kicked him one more time.

Clutching his groin, he hastily he crawled away towards the table he'd initially been sitting at. Kate waited until he was seated to lower her shackles, and once she was sure that nobody would try anything else, she closed her eyes with an irritated sigh and cautiously sat back down, breathing heavily.

"Are you all right?" Frodo asked, giving her a look. "That couldn't have been pleasant."

"It wasn't," she muttered, not opening her eyes. "Not at all."

Right around that moment, Merry came galloping back with a large mug of ale.

"What's that?" Pippin asked, giving the cup a strange look. "Never seen a mug like that before."

"This, my friend," Merry chuckled, raising it high, "is a pint!"

So saying, he lifted the mug and sipped at the ale inside.

"It comes in pints?" Pippin asked, standing up in surprise. "Well, then, I'm getting one, too!"

"You're jesting," Sam snorted, giving him a frown. "You've had a whole half already!"

"The more the merrier," the hobbit laughed, jogging towards the bar. "Be back in a mo."

Frodo sighed and rolled his eyes, then looked at the table.

For a long while, their group was quiet.

Then, Sam spoke up.

"That man sitting over there has done nothing but stare at Frodo and Katherine since we arrived," the blonde muttered, drawing the pale girl's attention instantly. "I don't like it... it's giving me a queer feeling, especially after what happened on the rode today."

After opening her eyes and glancing in the direction Sam was discreetly pointing to, Kate blinked: a hooded figure, face hidden within the shadows of his close, was smoking a pipe in the corner of the room. But the bizarre part was that he was indeed looking at them... specifically, her and Frodo.

Frodo leaned out and tapped the Barkeep as he walked past.

"Excuse me," he murmured, looking up at him. "That man in the corner. Who is he?"

"He's one of them rangers," the man explained, giving the hooded figure a glance. "They're dangerous folk they are. Wandering the wilds. What his right name is, I've never heard, but round here, he's known as Strider."

"Strider," Frodo muttered, giving him a look. "Peculiar name."

Kate watched the hooded man with a nervous sensation... the embers in his pipe began glowing, lighting up his eyes briefly. She caught a small glimpse of his face... saw just enough to know he wasn't the sort of person she wanted staring at her like he was.

RIght around that moment, however, her shoulder seared and she flinched as a sting went through her head. Moments later, the demonic whispers once again began to fill her ears. A chant... the whispers were chanting something... something familiar.

"_Baggins... Baggins... Baggins..._ _Baggins,_" it hissed, growing progressively louder._ "__**Baggins**!_"

Kate abruptly stood up, planting both hands on the table: Frodo twitched and stared at her, but he blinked when he realized that her face had gone chalky with fright.

"Those whispers... they came back for a moment," she told Frodo quietly, looking at his face with frightened violet eyes. "This time... they were chanting your last name. Over and over again."

"Baggins?" Frodo asked, looking spooked beyond words. "So... you heard it, too?"

Kate stiffened as she processed that, but before she could ask what he meant, a voice halted her.

"Baggins?" Pippin asked, voice reaching across the room. "Sure, I know a Baggins! He's right over there! Frodo Baggins! He's my second cousin once removed on his mother's side, and my third cousin twice removed on his father's side, if you follow me."

"Oh, no," Kate croaked, realizing with horror that they'd been given away. "This isn't good."

When Frodo abruptly got up and started pushing his way through the crowd, Kate hastily followed him. Strider's shoulders stiffened when the two of them made their way towards the bar where their companion was happily chatting. However, when Frodo clutched his arm, Pippin looked at them.

"Speak of the devil!" he laughed, patting Frodo's shoulder before shrugging him off. "Steady on!"

"Pippin, wait!" Frodo hissed, stepping backward. "You can't..."

Before he could finish speaking, he tripped on a man's foot and fell backwards, landing hard on the ground.

Kate's eyes went blank when the Ring flew out of his palm and clean into the air: the hobbit stretched out his hand in an attempt to catch the piece of jewelry, but instead...

Instead, it somehow slipped on his finger.

"NO!" Kate shrieked. "NOT HERE!"

Just as everyone looked at her in alarm, that same wave of ripples exploded from the boy's finger, engulfing both of them with the muffled sense of being underwater. Kate's hair flew backwards and once again began to drift around weightlessly.

"_What... what is going on?!_" Frodo cried, looking at the people around them; his expression filled with horror when he realized that everyone appeared to be nothing more than windswept shadows. However, when he spotted the pale girl struggling to get through to him, he gasped. "_Kate! Your hair!_"

"_Take it off! Right now!_" the girl screeched, finally managing to shrug past the shadows that had been blocking her and frantically kneeling beside him. "_Take off the ring, Frodo! Before they find us!_"

"_What are you saying?!_" the hobbit demanded, finding it hard to breathe. "_What's going on?!_"

Just as she opened her mouth to explain, a voice she'd only ever heard in her nightmares filled the air.

"_**You cannot hide...**__" _it hissed, making the girl slowly turn her head; her pupils expanded and filled with horrified tears when the walls of the building slowly vanished and her gaze began to zoom in on a strange mountain range. Frodo stared at the same bizarre vision, but he clutched the girl's arm in shock when a massive, flaming, lidless eye appeared before them. "**_I see you... there is no life in the void... only death! Come to me... come to the __F_**_**ires of Mordor**!"_

"_TAKE OFF THE RING!_" Kate screeched, frantically shaking Frodo's arm. "_RIGHT NOWWWWW!_"

Taking her advice, Frodo shakily managed to drag the Ring off of his finger.

Instantaneously, Katherine's vision returned to normal and her hair cascaded back down around her shoulders. Like before, she began panting erratically as the iciness within her began to dissolve. Still clutching Frodo's arm, she struggled not to pass out... terror was creeping through her.

"K-Kate... what was that?" Frodo whispered, staring at her. "You looked... like you've seen it."

"I... I... I..." the girl stammered, shakily giving him a blank expression. "I... have... but..."

Before she could finish, two hands roughly grabbed them and jerked them upright.

"You draw too much attention to yourself, Mr Underhill!" a gruff voice muttered. "Both of you, come."

Kate blinked when she realized the hooded man from before was the one who'd spoken, but before she could react, he violently dragged her and Frodo out of the room and up the stairs. Pulling the two of them down the hall, he kicked open their room and threw them inside. Frodo instantly stumbled, but once he'd caught his balance he whirled around and stood protectively in front of Kate.

"What do you want?" he demanded, looking fearful in spite of his courage. "Tell me!"

"A little more caution from you!" the man barked. "That is no trinket you carry, and messing with it risks putting everyone in danger!"

"I carry nothing," Frodo stammered, eyes sharpening in alarm when the man began to walk around the room and started snuffing the candles. "Nothing at all."

"Indeed," he muttered, giving the hobbit a look. "I can avoid being seen if I wish, but to disappear entirely... and what is more, to make a simple girl vanish with you... that is indeed a rare gift!"

So saying, he took his hood off.

Kate swallowed when she found herself looking at the face of a bearded man with piercing blue eyes and long black hair. However, unlike the one who'd tried to make a move on her, this man was much cleaner and he obviously took care of himself. His hair wasn't stringy, and in fact, was glossy...

And his face, while rugged, was undeniably handsome.

However, he was handsome in a fierce, dangerous way... and his looks were actually more repelling to her than attractive.

"Who are you?" Frodo whispered, backing up a step. "Tell me!"

"Are you frightened?" Strider inquired, quirking a heavy brow. "Hmm?"

Frodo remained quiet for a moment, choosing to look at him.

"Yes," he finally admitted, not blinking or even looking away. "I am."

The man nodded, then glanced at Katherine, who stiffened and shrank backwards.

"Not nearly frightened enough," Strider stated coldly, glancing at Frodo. "I know what hunts you. And it is your actions that have drawn their attention to this town."

The moment he said it, the door was flung open. Strider drew the sword resting at his side in a flash and swung around just Sam and the other hobbits pushed their way into the room. All three of them were carrying stools and candlesticks

"Let 'em go!" Sam barked, hefting his makeshift weapon. "Right now! Or I'll have you, Longshanks!"

Strider stared, blinking rapidly, before a smirk graced his expression. Slowly sheathing his sword, he glanced at them with a firm expression.

"You have a stout heart little hobbit," he stated firmly, giving all of them a long look, "but that will not save you. You can no longer wait for the wizard, because they're coming."

Kate froze when a distant screech met her ears.

"What do we do?" she croaked, feeling so hopeless that she very nearly started crying. "I can't walk anymore after everything that already happened... I'll get sick if I do, and then I _really _won't be able to do anything. Not even move."

"Halt your whining," the man barked, making her flinch. "There's nothing to be done! We must flee!"

"She cannot," Sam stated grimly, making the man stare. "Miss Katherine has a strange illness that might worsen if we force her to overexert herself. She collapsed several times on the road. And considering she was injured during the storm, I don't think we should force her to move until she's gotten enough rest."

The man grit his jaw and glared at the girl, but the gaze became a little less steely once he noticed just how tired she really looked. Her face was still flushed from her overexposure to sunlight, and she was indeed extremely feverish... but even worse than that, there were bags under her eyes.

Bags so prominent that they almost looked like terrible bruises.

"All right," Strider sighed, tightening his jaw. "Change of plans."

With that, he walked out of the room, leaving them behind to ponder what he was going to do.


	22. Chapter 21: Screeches in the Night

**Chapter Twenty-One: Screeches in the Night**

An hour had passed since Strider had initially stomped out of the room.

He'd warned the barkeep about what was going to happen, so the man had immediately closed down the pub, telling everyone to either return to their rooms or leave after finishing their ales. Strider had then stormed back into their room and, with no warning, dragged Kate and Frodo downstairs.

Despite their initial protests, he'd hastily led them out of the inn and pulled them across the street, jerked open a nearby door before throwing them inside. The other hobbits had hastily followed.

"Don't set foot outside this door until I return," he'd commanded. "Am I clear?"

When Frodo had nodded, he'd pointedly slammed it shut. Once he'd left them, Sam, Pippin, and Merry had drowned Frodo with questions about the disappearing act. Kate had merely sat down in the farthest corner of the room and carefully curled up into the fetal position, shivering all over.

They'd pointedly left her alone since she looked genuinely ill.

Then again, who could blame her for getting sick?

The extended exposure to sunlight was the reason for it... falling ill was only natural.

Plus, on top of being traumatized by the knowledge that she couldn't do anything to avoid the coming danger, her whole body ached, her face and neck had been badly sunburned, her scrapes had begun to sting like crazy, and the burn from cauterizing her still-healing chest hurt terribly.

All in all, she was hurting all over.

In the worst ways.

She couldn't move her body at all, and the hooded monsters were coming again: Kate could practically feel them drawing closer... could feel the same prickle of fear she'd experienced each and every time they'd come close to her... but there was nothing she could do.

And it terrified her.

She didn't even twitch when Strider slammed the door open again and stormed back into the room.

The hobbits all whirled around, but he merely gave them a glance before walking over to Kate, who shifted her eyes. The man visibly winced, since she looked even worse than before due to the increase in her exhaustion. Her face had taken on a puffy, yet bizarrely gaunt appearance.

"Can I help you?" she croaked, shifting the position of her throbbing head slightly. "Why are you just standing there and staring at me?"

"I want to know what type of medicine your ailment requires," he said seriously, making the girl tiredly blink. "To alleviate the pain."

"Something that I can apply to sunburns, and something to prevent them," Kate rasped, voice feeling abnormally hoarse from all the screaming she'd done earlier. "That's all I need."

He quirked an eyebrow.

"Sunburn?" he demanded, giving her a strange look. "You mean the rash one gets while working outside?"

"Yes," Kate told him, closing her eyes. "Please."

"How does this and that relate?" he demanded, furrowing his brows in irritation. "I want to know how to alleviate the pain of your illness. Your physical state should improve once that is taken care of."

Kate's eye twitched and she glared at him with barely-visible eyes through her silver lashes.

"I'm deathly allergic to sunlight," she grumbled, making him freeze. "Among other things, that IS part of my illness. Anything you can do to lessen the burns I got while we were traveling here will help me get better quicker, I can promise you that. Really, the last thing I need is to get sun poisoning."

His face went taught.

"Sun... poisoning...?" he demanded, sounding as though he couldn't believe his ears. "I've never heard of such a thing. Explain yourself."

"Basically, it's like this," Kate muttered, closing her eyes yet again. "I'm super sensitive to sunlight, so I burn quicker than people are supposed to. Much quicker. You know how people get a painful rash after spending a whole day out in the sun?"

"Of course, it happens to everyone," he stated firmly. "It's unavoidable. What's your point?"

"My point is, that rash doesn't take a whole day to show up on my body," Kate snapped, finally uncurling herself and shakily sitting up; with angry fingers, she undid her blazer and the front of her shirt before jerking it down off her right shoulder just a few inches. "It takes less than ten minutes for the burns to show up, and after that, they continue getting _worse_ until my skin gets infected."

The man's left eye twitched when he spotted the horrible blisters on her shoulders and neck.

Her normally pale skin was bright red and looked as though it had been scraped painfully raw.

"Katherine!" Frodo exclaimed, hastening over and crouching down in front of her; with gentle fingers, he slid her clothes a bit farther down and paled, since the horrible burns were everywhere. "This is unacceptable! Why didn't you say you were hurting this badly?! We could have... we could have..."

"You could have what?" Kate snorted, giving him a tired look; with little fanfare, she tenderly brushed his hands away and covered up her shoulder, deftly re-buttoning her clothes. "We were on the run, Frodo... nothing could have prevented me getting sunburned. Stopping was out of the question."

"It still ain't right!" Sam scolded, giving her a worried glare. "If you'd have told us you were hurting so badly, maybe we could have, you know... traveled at night instead of during the day. It'd have been slow-goings in comparison, but we'd have done it! We wouldn't have let you get hurt like that!"

"It looks extremely painful," Strider quietly murmured, kneeling down and gently using a finger to tilt the girl's head back; with careful eyes, he examined the blisters lining her throat. "So... are you saying you'll fully recover by tomorrow if I bring you something to tend your sunburns?"

"I don't know if they'll be better by tomorrow, even with medicine, since I was burning for two days straight," Kate told him truthfully, lying back down with a wince, "but I can tell you this: without anything to treat it, I probably won't heal up at all since I'll start burning all over again once the sun rises. In fact, if this keeps up... without some form of protection from the sun... I..."

She instantly halted, mouth growing taught.

"Go on," Strider commanded, narrowing his eyes. "Finish speaking."

"Fine," she stated simply, closing her eyes. "Without protection from the sun... I could die."

That statement made everyone's eyes grow wide, but Kate didn't even open her own.

"I believe I know of something that can help," Strider stated calmly, getting to his feet and heading over to the wall; after grabbing some thick, rough blankets and pillows, he tossed them to the Hobbits. "There are some beds in the room adjacent to this one. Feel free to use them."

So saying, he turned and carefully lifted Kate into his arms.

"W-what are you doing?!" the girl squalled, weakly hitting his chest. "Let me go! I hurt all over!"

"I'm carrying you to bed, so stop struggling," he grunted, making the girl pause. "You look half dead right now as it is... I believe the hobbit was right: you need rest."

"Thanks," the girl whined, nearly bursting into tears. "I can't move anymore... my body can't take it."

"Don't worry about being burned any further," the man soothed, gently setting her on one of the bed's he'd mentioned before draping a blanket over her. "You have my word that once this danger passes us by, I'll conjure a remedy that I'm sure you'll find useful."

"Much appreciated..." Kate mumbled, already falling asleep. "I don't want to hurt anymore."

After she was settled in, Sam, Merry, and Pippin took the other beds and hesitantly hunkered down for the night.

Frodo, on the other hand, sat down on the edge of Katherine's straw mattress and simply looked at her flushed, puffy, sunburned face. She really did have an extremely haggard appearance, but what truly upset him was that he hadn't even noticed how much of a toll their travels had been taking on her. For a long moment, Frodo stared at her with furrowed brows.

Then, he gently set his hand on the top of her head and sighed.

"Once we're out of danger," he murmured, nodding when she stiffened a little and woke up, "I promise that we'll take it easier. If worse comes to worst, we can always travel at night to prevent you from hurting yourself like this."

"Seriously?" Kate asked, opening her eyes and looking at him weakly. "Wouldn't that slow us down, though?"

"Of course it would," Frodo told her, running a hand through his hair, "but if I had known just how badly the sun was really hurting you, I'd have changed the whole course of our journey to keep you well out of it. Your safety is my responsibility since Gandalf personally asked me to look after you."

"Really?" she droned, voice coming out surprisingly cold. "That's surprising."

Noting her tone, he glanced at her... then his eyes sharpened and he let out a sigh of dismay.

"Don't take offense to this," he muttered, giving her a frown, "but sometimes, I really do feel like there's something... _missing_ inside you. Something important that everyone should have."

Kate twitched and stared at him as though her were crazy, not believing her ears.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" she snorted, quirking an eyebrow. "What's missing?"

"That's just it... I don't know, particularly, what it is," he stated slowly, shaking his head without tearing his gaze away from hers. "But I do know it's something important... and sometimes, I also feel that whatever's missing can somehow be given back if someone gets close to you. It's very odd."

Kate's eyes went blank and she stiffened, fully awake.

"Don't," she stated firmly, giving him such an icy expression that hell could have frozen over. "I'm grateful for everything you've done, and I'm happy that you feel the need to care for me... but then again, I also don't want you to, so don't bother. Okay?"

Frodo blinked and stared at her, expression taking on a slightly incredulous tinge.

"Why ever not?" he quietly asked, giving her a solemn expression. "I understand that you must be frightened... anyone would be. You were in an accident that robbed you of all previous recollection of who you were, and you were separated from your brother! Now, this is happening!"

"That has nothing to do with it," Kate retorted, eyes deadening even as she said it. "Understand?"

" Actually, no: I do not," Frodo explained, frowning at her. "Why do you constantly push everyone away...? Why do you lash out at those who wish to help you? I don't understand."

Katherine slowly sat up, long hair sliding over her shoulders.

Her eyes were devoid of any sheen and looked completely emotionless.

"Nobody can hurt me if I don't let them get close enough to do so," she stated coldly, finally lifting her eyes and giving him the most frighteningly empty expression he'd ever seen. "I don't want anybody to care about me... and I don't want to care about anyone. So, please... respect my wishes."

He took in her cold gaze with something akin to sorrow.

"I can't find it in myself to believe that," he sighed, calmly shaking his head. "I don't believe you."

The girl finally lost her temper.

"Oh? Then tell me!" Kate finally snapped, glaring at him. "What do you really know about me, Frodo?! Huh?! Tell me!"

When he leaned away, blinking, she tightened her jaw.

"I know only what you've told me, and only what I've seen," he stated lowly, "but that alone is enough to piece together a few things. You're afraid of everything... and you don't trust anybody. And that is exactly why I want to care for you. I want you to know and understand that everything will be okay."

Kate immediately let out a sarcastic, humorless laugh.

"Good answer, Frodo! As a reward, I'll tell you why I don't want your pity and why I have issues!" she hissed, glaring at him. "Sometimes, someone hurts you so bad... you stop hurting at all until someone new gets close enough to make you feel again."

Her words were laced with venom.

And her eyes were flinty with rage.

"Someone... hurt you...?" Frodo carefully asked. "What do you mean?"

"That's not important," Kate sullenly retorted. "Even if you ask... even if you listen... even if you try to get close to me... you will never really hear, or see, or even feel what I've been through. Hell, you wouldn't understand it even if I did tell you. So, don't try to understand, Frodo... I'm fine with how things are right now. Just be yourself, and let's both forget this conversation ever happened."

Her eyes were so cold and lifeless that the hobbit actually shivered a little.

"You can't choose how you feel about someone," he told her gently, eyes softening. "I care about you. Whether you like it or not, you're my friend."

"That just means you'll be the one who gets hurt in the end," Kate sighed, tilting her head back. "I no longer have the will to keep moving forward, Frodo. Don't care for me. I... I want to die."

Frodo stiffened, and Sam sat up, turning his head to look at her.

However, she didn't care.

"I've wanted to die for a long time," Kate stated quietly, staring at the ceiling. "Before the accident, I tried so many times to end my own suffering... but I never found the courage to go through with it. Back where I'm from, though... nobody even cared enough to notice. And nobody would have cried for me if I had died. Not even my own brother."

It was true.

Nobody would have cried for her... period.

In fact, people would have cheered, and those who hadn't celebrated would have at least felt good.

Unwanted.

Unloved.

And forgotten.

"How could... you say something so..." Frodo squeaked, eyes utterly enormous. "Katherine... why?"

She turned and gave him a weak smile as the fight left her.

"Like I said earlier: you won't understand even if I explain it," she stated quietly, lying back down and carefully rolling over. "Frodo... you're different from me. Very different. You may have lost your parents, but you had Bilbo to love you. And Gandalf. And Sam's family. And so many others who lovingly watched over you from afar. You had so many people standing by you."

"Well, yes... but..." he stammered, staring at her with alarmed eyes, "didn't... you?"

"Me?" Kate asked, eyes filling with tears that stung as they slid down her cheeks. "Nope. I lost everything I ever loved... then they locked me away, with nowhere to hide... from the pain. And when it mattered the most... when I was hurting the most... when I really needed someone, anyone, to tell me things would be all right... I was all alone, Frodo. And nobody cared. So, let's stop this, okay?"

So saying, she pulled the blanket back up to her shoulder, ignoring his gaze.

He didn't speak again after that, for which she was grateful.

Ever since she'd arrived to this world, deeper and deeper, she had fallen within herself.

And nothing could show her out.

Trapped within her misery.

Trapped on a strange, unfamiliar planet.

Unable to see the light.

Unable to see the dawn.

Unable to feel. To hope. To dream.

Unable to even cry.

What she wanted the most was for her brother to be found safely.

Kate couldn't remember ever falling asleep... but apparently, that must have been the case, because she was jerked back into consciousness by the very sound that she had been fearing for so long. The horrible, inhuman screeches... the terrifying wails that could curdle even a banshee's blood.

Bolting upright, the girl blindly flailed around and kicked her way backwards until she was pressed against the headboard, breathing hard with her hands raised. Her eyes were wild and frantic, and she shivered violently as the horrible noises continued.

"Ow..." she squeaked, shaking her head as her shoulder stung and throbbed. "No... stop..."

The screeches didn't stop, so she covered her ears, kicking her legs as the god awful sounds pierced something deep within her and caused the mark on her shoulder to burn like hell fire. However, when it became too much, the girl opened her mouth to let out a shriek... but a gloved hand covered it.

Kate's eyes snapped to the left when she was jerked against someone's chest.

"Keep quiet," Strider ordered, looking out the window. "Don't make a sound."

She trembled violently and wriggled, squeezing her eyes shut to halt the tears stinging her eyes as the mark on her flesh burned from the inside. It was horrible. The sensation was utterly horrible. It was like being branded with a hot iron, or burning herself on a hot stove.

But instead of getting the chance to jerk away like a normal person, it was like her skin was purposely being held against it. Without even realizing what she was doing, she opened her mouth and bit down on Strider's glove, using it to muffle the scream of agony that wanted to escape from her lips.

She began sobbing as the agony seared through her, tears streaming from her puffy eyes.

The man grit his teeth in pain due to the fact that she was biting him, but he ignored it.

He could obviously tell just how bad she was hurting.

Finally, the creatures stopped screeching... and the pain in her back slowly began to fade away.

Once she was sure it was over... the girl unlocked her jaw and let go of the ranger's glove.

Four holes had been punctured through it, making her blind and lift a hand to touch her teeth.

She froze when she realized something else had changed aside from her eyes.

"What the fuck?!" she whispered, clutching her mouth with both hands and looking at his hand in horror; just as she'd thought, blood was rapidly welling up from four deep holes that had been carved into the man's skin. "Oh, my God... I am so sorry! I didn't... I mean, my teeth... are you okay?!"

"Don't worry about it," he growled a little harshly, ripping his glove off and watching as the hooded monsters mounted their black horses and began to gallop away. "It's just a flesh wound. You were obviously in more pain than I."

"Still! This is not okay! At all!" she cried, touching her teeth with horrified eyes. "I didn't know my teeth had gotten that sharp! They changed like my eyes did, but I didn't even notice until now! This is so fucking bizarre... I want to go home already. None of this makes sense..."

"Calm yourself," the ranger grunted, giving her a sour look. "The enemy is gone. For now."

"What are they?" Frodo demanded, sitting at the foot of his bed. "Those Riders... they..."

"They were once Men. Great kings of Men," the man told him, deftly wrapping a bandage around his wounded hand. "Then, Sauron the Deceiver gave to them nine Rings of Power. Blinded by their greed, they took them without question. One by one falling into darkness."

Kate froze, eyes going blank.

"Those... things... were people?!" she whispered, mouth twitching in disbelief. "That can't be right!"

"It is the truth... they were once human," Strider retorted, glaring at her. "Now they are slaves to Sauron's will. They are the Nazgûl... the Ringwraiths, neither living nor dead. At all times, they feel the presence of the Ring... drawn to the power of the One. They will never stop hunting you, little girl."

"But why?!" Kate cried, looking at him with a hopeless expression. "Why me?! Of all people, WHY ME?!"

He merely looked at her.

"Because as it stands..." he stated simply. "You bear Saruon's Mark. Just like the Nine before you, after they were given the rings... you were branded with a curse of living death. Thankfully, you have not yet lost your life, so there may yet be a way to save you... to salvage your future."

Her heart nearly stopped beating.

Slowly turning her head, the girl looked at him as a strange prickle ran up her spine and made her hair stand up on end. She couldn't comprehend what she'd just been told, but in a muddle way, it almost seemed to make sense.

"What did you just say?" she demanded, throat closing up on her. "You can't be serious... right?"

"I'm afraid I am," he told her, narrowing his eyes. "So, now that you understand your situation, hopefully you'll be a little more cooperative. Because unless we find a way to remove that mark... there will be two more little Nazgul brats to search for the ring."

Kate lowered her eyes, face draining completely of color.

Living death.

She had been cursed with living death, of all things.

It felt surreal.

So surreal that she couldn't comprehend the horror befalling her.

"How long do I have?" Kate shakily asked. "Before I turn into one of those... things."

"I do not know," the man retorted. "What I do know, however, is that you should get your beauty rest, because we set off at first light."

Kate nodded and slowly lay back down, feeling completely overwhelmed.

But as she lay there, contemplating her impending doom, all she could think of doing was praying.

So, that's exactly what she did.

For the first time in years, she closed her eyes and sent up a silent prayer.

_God...? If you're there,_ Katie Sanders silently called, closing her eyes, _please... please... I'm begging you... keep me and Nathan safe... please. I... I know... that I shouldn't ask for your help and guidance... after everything I've done and tried to do... but I ... I don't want to become a monster. Please, God... if you haven't given up on me and my brother... watch over us._

The prayer did little to soothe her.

But it was all she could think of.

And as she closed her eyes, beginning to fall asleep, a single tear dripped off her silver lashes.

All that came after, was silence.


End file.
